Govt plans to develop Bhubaneswar as Fintek City, set up eight tech hubs
BHUBANESWAR: With IT sector identified as a major driver for Odisha achieving its goal of becoming a developed state by 2036, the state government has set its eyes on developing Bhubaneswar as a Fintek City.
The plan also includes establishing eight new digital hubs in tier-II cities, creating semiconductor and electronics manufacturing clusters and developing the coastal belt into a data centre powerhouse.
The state is also advancing the Odisha Digital Economy Mission with a broad roadmap to facilitate over Rs 16.73 lakh crore investment for digital infrastructure.As part of the strategy, the state has planned to develop eight specialised digital and tech hubs to reduce the concentration of IT opportunities in the state capital. The cities and regions like Cuttack, Rourkela, Sambalpur-Jharsuguda, Berhampur, Jajpur, Balasore-Bhadrak, Puri-Konark and Paradip-Dhamra-Gopalpur will be developed as hubs of LegalTech, data centre, electronics assembly, semiconductor, digital logistics, defence tech, smart manufacturing, IoT, TourismTech and hardware exports.Among the flagship proposals, Bhubaneswar will be transformed as a dedicated Fintek City, envisioned as the FinTech and InsurTech capital of eastern India. The government has already collaborated with Singapore-based Global Finance and Technology Network (GFTN) to nurture talent, expand digital public infrastructure and drive innovation in financial technologies.
Principal secretary of Electronics and IT department Vishal Kumar Dev said the initiative is expected to create over 50,000 high-paying jobs, besides generating an annual gross value added (GVA) of Rs 40,000 crore by 2036.Odisha is also gearing up to become a tier-IV data centre hub with an undersea cable landing station coming up in Puri, which will significantly enhance the state’s global connectivity. Major players including Adani, CtrlS, Zoho, YOTTA and the Reserve Bank of India have also committed to data centre projects.
Terming it as the state’s most comprehensive digital push ever, Dev said, strong emphasis is being laid on scaling IT exports, building world-class tech parks and skilling youth for emerging domains. “The state government aims to add Rs 60,000 crore annually to its GSVA from IT services. More than two lakh jobs are expected to be created over the the next decade as the state rolls out its new IT Policy 2025, develops IT parks in PPP mode, expands cloud and cybersecurity training to one lakh youth,” he added.