Odisha Positions Itself as India’s Next AI Powerhouse at India AI Impact Summit 2026

By Tapaswini Sahoo

New Delhi, Feb 18 : The Government of Odisha today outlined a comprehensive, execution-first roadmap to position the State as India’s next AI powerhouse, Mr. Vishal Kumar Dev, Additional Chief Secretary, Electronics & IT Department addressed the media at the Odisha Pavilion during the India AI Impact Summit 2026 at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi.

Odisha envisions AI as a core utility rooted in the democratization of technology and last-mile inclusion, ensuring that the benefits of the digital revolution reach every citizen, particularly those in rural, tribal and low literacy communities. Central to enabling this vision is the transition of Odia to a higher resource language, enabling population – scale, voice enabled applications that reach citizens in their mother tongue to create tangible impact.

In the words of Hon’ble Chief Minister of Odisha, Mohan Charan Majhi, “Odisha must follow a model where we do not merely adopt technology, but become a harbinger of technology for others to follow. Artificial intelligence gives us an opportunity to set new benchmarks in governance and public service delivery.”

At the pavilion, Odisha showcased its transition from AI experimentation to population-scale implementation, backed by strong fiscal fundamentals, a dedicated AI governance structure, and a growing sovereign compute and data ecosystem.

In the words of Dr. Mukesh Mahaling, Hon’ble Minister of Health & Family Welfare, Parliamentary Affairs, Electronics & Information Technology, Government of Odisha, “Odisha’s AI journey is about impact, not experimentation. Our focus is on using AI to strengthen public service delivery, empower citizens, and build sovereign digital capabilities. We are creating an ecosystem where innovation, governance and inclusion move together.”

Odisha enters the AI decade on the back of robust economic fundamentals – the state, which is revenue surplus, power surplus, with 575 km long coastline, a fiscal deficit contained within statutory limits, the highest capital outlay among major States, and a top ranking in NITI Aayog’s Fiscal Health Index. This stability, leaders highlighted, allows the State to invest decisively in long-horizon digital public infrastructure, including AI.

Mr. Vishal Kumar Dev, Additional Chief Secretary, Electronics & IT, Government of Odisha, added, “We are institutionalising AI through clear governance, dedicated budgets and execution frameworks. Odisha is moving from being a technology adopter to a technology creator ready to partner with industry, startups and global players to scale responsibly.”

Addressing the media, Odisha’s leadership emphasised the State’s focus on sovereign, green and scalable AI infrastructure, leveraging its power surplus and policy readiness to support next-generation compute capacity and advanced AI workloads. This positions Odisha to play a strategic role in India’s AI supply chain, while creating high-skill employment and long-term digital value.

Five Sectors, One AI Mission

Odisha’s AI strategy is anchored around five priority sectors: healthcare, education, agriculture, disaster management and governance where AI is being deployed not as pilots, but as frontline tools for service delivery, particularly for rural, tribal and low-literacy communities.

Key deployments and pilots include:

AI-assisted clinical decision support and disease screening tools for rural healthcare

Voice-first, Odia-language AI systems for citizen services and grievance redressal

Precision agriculture advisories through AI-powered IVR and hyper-local climate intelligence

Urban flood prevention models and disaster planning using AI analytics and digital twins

These initiatives are supported by a structured “through-the-funnel” implementation model, moving use-cases from departmental identification to pilots and state-wide scale.

The State has operationalised the Odisha AI Mission, featuring a dedicated AI Taskforce, an AI Cell, earmarked budgets for AI implementation, and policy reforms to streamline procurement and deployment of AI solutions across departments. Odisha is also a leading contributor to India’s AI ecosystem, having uploaded 1,600+ Odia literary datasets to AIKosh, strengthening local-language AI development. The Government is systematically developing high-quality datasets in the Odia language, both in written and audio formats, to strengthen the foundation for advanced machine learning models. This initiative aims to ensure that AI systems become more accurate, context-aware, and accessible, enabling citizens to interact with digital services seamlessly in their native language.

Aligned with Digital Odisha Vision 2047, the State aims to become a GCC, data centre and digital public infrastructure hub, contributing significantly to India’s long-term economic and technology goals, while ensuring AI remains inclusive, ethical and citizen-centric.