In the heart of Mumbai's industrial diplomatic circuit, Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi stepped onto one of India's most consequential manufacturing stages — co-chairing the Global CEOs Forum at INDIA CHEM 2026 on Thursday, October 22, alongside a high-powered roster of Union ministers and a fellow state chief minister.

The Chief Minister's Office of Odisha confirmed that CM Majhi shared the dais with Union Minister JP Nadda, Union Minister of State Anupriya Patel, and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Dr. Mohan Yadav. The forum drew leading industry captains and policymakers to deliberate on investment, innovation, supply chain resilience, and sustainable growth in the chemicals and petrochemicals sector.

Why India Chem 2026 Carries Weight This Year

India Chem is a biennial chemicals and petrochemicals exhibition and conference series held in Mumbai — the country's most prominent dedicated platform for the sector. As global supply chains continue to rewire in the wake of geopolitical disruptions and the push to reduce dependence on single-origin imports, this edition carries sharper strategic urgency than most. The forum's agenda — investment, innovation, and manufacturing resilience — maps directly onto questions India's policymakers have been wrestling with for years.

The discussions, per the CMO's readout, 'underscored the importance of stronger industry partnerships, a resilient manufacturing ecosystem and new avenues for investment to enhance India's global competitiveness.' That language is deliberate. It signals an alignment between central and state governments on using domestic chemicals capacity as a lever for export competitiveness.

Odisha's Paradip Bet and the PCPIR Play

Odisha's presence at the top table is not ceremonial. The state hosts the Paradip Petroleum, Chemicals and Petrochemicals Investment Region (PCPIR) — one of the flagship integrated petrochemical zones established under the PCPIR policy of 2007. Paradip's coastal location offers direct logistics advantages: deep-draft port access, proximity to raw material supply lines, and the infrastructure backbone to support large-scale refining and downstream chemical manufacturing.

CM Majhi, who took office in 2024, has made industrial investment attraction a signature priority. His co-chairing role at a Global CEOs Forum — rather than a standard panel seat — positions Odisha as an active architect of India's chemicals strategy, not merely a recipient of central policy. The Make in India initiative, which named chemicals and petrochemicals a priority manufacturing sector when it launched in 2014, provides the broader federal framework within which Odisha's Paradip ambitions sit.

States in Competition, Centre Holding the Thread

The presence of both the Odisha and Madhya Pradesh chief ministers alongside two Union ministers at a single industry forum is itself a signal. States are increasingly competing — and cooperating — to attract petrochemical FDI and anchor new value chains. Madhya Pradesh CM Dr. Mohan Yadav's participation reflects a similar state-level push for industrial growth, and the multi-state, multi-ministry format suggests the Centre is actively corralling state-level ambitions into a coherent national pitch to global industry.

Watch for follow-up investment commitments from the participating states and any new policy incentives for the chemicals sector in upcoming state budgets or central schemes — that will be the real scorecard from Mumbai.