Orissa holds the promise of becoming one of India’s major manufacturing hubs in the near future. Recently 43 companies have lined up to set up mammoth steel plants in the state, inclusing POSCO of South Korea which has agreed to construct a mammoth USD 12 billion steel plant, which would be the largest ever investment in India. The state is attracting huge investments in aluminum, coal-based power plants, and petrochemicals. Although Paradip is Orissa’s only large port, the coastal towns of Dhamra and Gopalpur are being developed into major ports as well. If things go as planned in Orissa, the state could emerge as one of the most significant FDI destinations in the world, rivalling Shenzhen in China.

Orissa is also a major outsourcing destination for IT (Information Technology) and IT services firms. With clogged highways of Hyderabad and Bangalore causing massive traffic jams, Orissa’s still pristine Bhubaneswar provides excellent opportunites for large IT firms to set up shop. India’s topmost IT consulting firms, including TCS (Tata Consultancy Services) and Infosys have big branches in Orissa.

On the basis of homogeneity, continuity and physiographical characteristics, Orissa has been divided into five major morphological regions : the Orissa Coastal Plain in the east, the Middle Mountainous and Highlands Region, the Central plateaus, the western rolling upholds and the major flood plains.

Among the states of India, Orissa is tenth in area and eleventh in population with the latter figure standing at 31,512,073 according 1991 census. While covering 4.7 per cent of the country’s total area, it accounts for 3.7 per cent of the total population. The density of population is 2020 as against the all-India figure of 2670 and the sex ratio is 972, the all-India ration being 929.