Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has constituted the Chief Minister’s Economic Advisory Council (CM-EAC), an independent body established to provide data-driven, evidence-based policy advice to accelerate the state’s economic transformation.
According to an official notification issued on September 25, the newly formed council is designed to strengthen fiscal prudence and guide the state toward becoming a USD 500 billion economy (“Samruddha Odisha”) by 2036, and a USD 1.5 trillion economy (“Vikshit Odisha”) by 2047.
The council brings together a panel of seven eminent domain experts across governance, agriculture, taxation, macroeconomics, and emerging technology. The appointed expert members include former Odisha Chief Secretary Dr Jugal Kishore Mohapatra; former Paradip Port Authority Chairman Santosh Kumar Mohapatra; former Union Agriculture Secretary Shobhana Kumar Pattanayak (acting as Expert Member for Agriculture); former Senior Economist at the IMF Fiscal Affairs Department Arbind Modi (acting as Expert Member for Tax); ICRIER distinguished visiting professor and Delhi University honorary distinguished professor Dr Deepak Mishra; University of Hyderabad Economics Professor Prof Srijit Mishra; and Sarvam AI Co-founder & CEO Pratyush Kumar.
In addition to the seven expert panel members, the council features administrative support through key state officials. The Chief Secretary and the Development Commissioner-cum-Additional Chief Secretary serve as Ex-officio Members. The Principal Secretary, Finance Department, serves as the Member-Secretary, while the Director (Budget) has been appointed as the Convenor.
All expert members will hold office for a tenure of two years from the date of the notification or until further orders.
The CM-EAC’s scope of work spans macro-level economic assessments, structural reforms, and strategic sector growth. Key terms of reference mandate the council to advise on global, national, and state-level macroeconomic developments. It will also recommend policy measures for emerging growth areas, including artificial intelligence, the digital economy, green energy transition, the blue economy, climate resilience, and technology-driven governance.
Furthermore, the advisory body is tasked with suggesting concrete strategies to achieve Odisha’s Vision 2036 and Vision 2047 goals. This includes driving the expansion of the non-farm economy, fostering MSME development, creating industrial clusters, promoting skill development, and advancing human capital enhancement.
The notification further states that the CM-EAC will meet at least once every six months, with the Finance Department serving as its administrative and technical secretariat. The council has also been granted the flexibility to invite domain experts, institutional representatives, and industry leaders as special invitees for detailed deliberations on specific agenda items.