Bhubaneswar: Following Odisha’s inclusion among the country’s top five states in NITI Aayog’s inaugural Investment Friendliness Index (IFI) 2026, a fierce political tug-of-war has erupted over who deserves credit for the state’s economic rise.
Even as Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi was felicitated on Thursday by leading industrialists, representatives, and industry associations who hailed Team Odisha’s collective efforts, Leader of Opposition in Odisha Naveen Patnaik launched a sharp critique, accusing the “double-engine” BJP government of chest-thumping and taking credit for the achievements of the previous BJD administration.
The NITI Aayog report categorised Odisha alongside Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Goa as the nation’s “Top Performers” in fostering an attractive investment environment. Securing fifth position nationally with an overall score of 52.4 percent—behind top-ranked Gujarat’s 56.6 percent—Odisha performed strongly in natural resource utilization, industrial policy, and fiscal health.
Taking to social media platform X, Naveen pointed out that the NITI Aayog report was evaluated based on performance parameters from the 2023–24 financial year, a period when the BJD was governing the state. He expressed immense personal satisfaction in taking Odisha from near-bankruptcy in 2000 to a frontrunner in drawing nationwide investment. “The turnaround from a laggard state to a beacon state is a story of our sustained reform, fiscal discipline and transformative governance under the principles of 5T which is now being celebrated by present Odisha BJP government,” he noted.
Highlighting the financial indicators outlined in the report, Naveen emphasised that Odisha had outperformed several “double-engine governments” on multiple economic fronts while establishing a benchmark for prudent fiscal management. During the evaluation period, the state’s total outstanding liabilities remained at a low 16 per cent of the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP), while interest payments accounted for only 1.38 per cent of GSDP—the lowest proportion recorded anywhere in the country.
He further noted that Odisha’s economic stability was achieved alongside significant industrial contributions, as the state accounts for nearly half of India’s total mineral output and close to a quarter of its coal production.
According to the BJD president, years of disciplined governance and policy interventions under his tenure turned Odisha into an investment magnet, enabling the government to self-fund major socio-economic programmes without waiting for central assistance. “Our sustained efforts, policy interventions and fiscal discipline have turned the state into a magnet for investment. They have empowered Odisha to invest in people-centric welfare initiatives. This helped us pioneer schemes such as #BSKY, #KALIA and #MissionShakti, besides initiatives in #SkillDevelopment, #OdishaSchoolTransformation, tribal welfare, #DisasterManagement, infrastructure development, irrigation projects, poverty alleviation and our own food security scheme, without waiting for handouts from the Centre,” he added, while expressing his heartfelt gratitude to the citizens of Odisha for their partnership in the state’s transformation.
However, amidst his praise for the BJD’s legacy, the leader of the opposition voiced serious concerns over the economic stewardship of the current state leadership. “I am worried with the way the Odisha double-engine govt is mismanaging finances, it could push the state into same path of bankruptcy which we inherited 25 years back,” he warned, cautioning against fiscal derailment in the years ahead.