Context

The official post from the Chief Minister's Office states that Odisha is 'rapidly emerging as a leading investment and manufacturing destination,' citing the state's recognition in the NITI Aayog index as evidence of 'sustained efforts to strengthen investor confidence and accelerate industrialisation.' The Trimetro campus, profiled in a Forbes India feature, is described as India's first net-zero carbon and net-zero water garment manufacturing facility. The campus is projected to produce 20 million garments annually and generate approximately 10,000 jobs, with women comprising nearly 80% of the workforce.

Policy Backdrop

Epic Group, a Hong Kong-based apparel manufacturer, is the developer behind the Trimetro campus in Bhubaneswar, Odisha's capital. The investment aligns with India's broader Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for textiles and apparel, launched in 2021, which was designed to scale domestic garment production and reduce import dependence. Odisha's own Industrial Policy Resolution framework has progressively sought to ease land acquisition and infrastructure provisioning for large manufacturing anchors.

The net-zero design of the Trimetro campus mirrors commitments under India's updated Nationally Determined Contributions and state-level sustainability mandates. Eastern states, including Odisha, have in recent years moved aggressively to build land banks and industrial corridors to capture supply chains shifting away from saturated coastal manufacturing hubs. This positions Bhubaneswar as a credible alternative node in India's apparel export geography.

Stakeholders and Impact

The most direct beneficiaries of the Trimetro project are apparel workers in Odisha, particularly women, who are set to fill roughly 8,000 of the 10,000 projected jobs. The Chief Minister's Office framed this as enabling 'more Odias to build prosperous careers within the State,' addressing a long-standing pattern of labour migration from Odisha to other industrial states. For textile investors, the campus's net-zero credentials and NITI Aayog's positive ranking of the state signal a maturing regulatory and infrastructure environment.

CM Majhi, who assumed office in 2024, has made industrialisation and investment attraction central planks of his administration. The NITI Aayog recognition, if confirmed through the index's formal release, would mark a significant reputational milestone for Odisha's business climate reform agenda. The state government's ability to attract a sustainability-focused global manufacturer like Epic Group also strengthens its positioning ahead of future investors' summits.

What's Next

Attention will now turn to the rollout timeline of the Trimetro campus's operational phases and whether the state budget includes provisions for apparel park infrastructure and skilling programmes to support the projected workforce. The next Make in Odisha investors' summit is also being watched as a platform where the government is expected to leverage these credentials to attract further commitments. Sustained implementation of ease-of-doing-business reforms will be critical to converting investor interest into operational factories and stable employment at scale.