Odisha's Amended Tourism Policy Might Give Odia Cuisine Restaurants a Fighting Chance

For years, the absence of Odia cuisine from India's mainstream culinary map has been a sore point for food entrepreneurs and cultural advocates alike. Unlike Chettinad, Awadhi, or Mughlai cooking, categories that have found firm footing in metro dining circuits, Odia food has remained a well-kept secret, rich in heritage but conspicuously absent from high streets. That changed in January 2026, when the Odisha Cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, approved the Odisha Tourism (Amendment) Policy-2026, a sweeping reform of the earlier 2022 framework designed to align the state's hospitality and food sectors with Vision 2036 and Vision 2047.

At the heart of the food-focused measures is a dedicated Capital Expenditure (Capex) and Operational Expenditure (Opex) support framework for authentic Odia cuisine restaurants. The policy covers not only Department of Tourism-notified destinations within Odisha but also extends to five metro cities, Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, and Kolkata, as well as five major tourist hubs identified as Agra, Varanasi, Goa, Kochi, and Jaipur. For a cuisine that has historically struggled with visibility beyond its home state, the geographical breadth of this intervention marks a definitive turning point.

What the Framework Actually Offers

The financial architecture of the policy is significant. According to the Odisha government's official briefing, the Capital Investment Subsidy (CIS) structure offers up to 30–40% assistance on eligible investments. For projects up to Rs. 200 crore, a maximum subsidy of Rs. 50 crore is available; those exceeding Rs. 200 crore can draw up to Rs. 100 crore. Women, Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, and differently-abled entrepreneurs are eligible for enhanced subsidies of 40%, capped at Rs. 60 crore and Rs. 120 crore respectively, depending on investment size.

The Opex component addresses an equally pressing concern: the steep cost of operating a regional-cuisine restaurant in a metro market. The lone manager who runs the humble Odisha Hotel in Saket, Delhi, one of the few dedicated Odia cuisine establishments in the capital, put it plainly, "In a city like Delhi, operating economics are fundamentally different from regional markets. Rentals, compliance costs, logistics, and skilled labour collectively raise operating expenditure by roughly 30–40% compared to Tier-2 cities. For regional cuisine restaurants, sourcing authentic ingredients from the home state adds another layer of cost volatility. Policy-level support mechanisms, whether direct or ecosystem-driven, can help stabilise these variables and make expansion more financially predictable."

The broader economic ambition is considerable. Chief Secretary Anu Garg has indicated that the amendments are projected to create 15,000 star-category hotel rooms by 2036 and generate over one lakh direct and indirect employment opportunities across the state's tourism ecosystem.

Metro Restaurants and Domestic Pioneers Respond

Industry voices have broadly welcomed the announcement, though many emphasise that execution will be the real test. Tanaya Patnaik, co-founder of Odraa in Bhubaneswar, a restaurant that curates dishes from across Odisha's diverse regions and has gained quite a traction across local social media across the state, sees the policy as both validation and momentum. "I think it is a very, very welcome step, considering the immense potential and variety Odia cuisine has to offer," she said. "This will give a big boost, a lot of confidence to people who probably were passionate about taking this outside, but the costs or the financial implications were holding them back."

Patnaik also underscored what she believes must accompany the financial support: a consistent supply of authentic ingredients and a coherent national marketing strategy. "Promoting our cuisine at national and international level requires constant promotion, constant innovative marketing techniques and methods, and a lot of storytelling," she said.

Shakti Satapathy of Rasabali Gourmet in Navi Mumbai, one of the few dedicated Odia cuisine brands operating in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, offered a measured but optimistic reading of the Capex dimension, "Support can help establish culturally rooted yet contemporary restaurant formats, covering interiors, kitchen design, visual storytelling, packaging, and peripheral elements, that consistently communicate the goodness of Odia food as sustainable, balanced, and everyday comfort cuisine." Satapathy added, however, that "the real impact will depend on the operational clarity, particularly around eligibility, scope of support, timelines, and implementation."

Building an Ecosystem, Not Just a Menu

What separates this policy from earlier, piecemeal interventions is its implicit recognition that cuisine promotion is an ecosystem problem, not merely a marketing one. The manager of Odisha Hotel in Delhi framed it in terms that resonate beyond the restaurant sector, "When a state formally recognises its cuisine as an investible sector and extends support frameworks even to metro-based establishments, it sends a strong message to investors that regional cuisine businesses are scalable, structured, and policy-backed. That kind of institutional validation significantly improves confidence among partners, lenders, and expansion stakeholders."

Satapathy echoes this, arguing for complementary measures including vocational culinary courses for Prabasi Odia students in metro cities, dedicated Odia food and cultural activation spaces within Odisha Bhavan facilities, and at least one flagship Government of India–led culinary event in target metros. "For us, food is a form of cultural faith, it begins with comfort and culminates in a sense of well-being and togetherness," he noted.

Tanaya Patnaik's approach at Odraa may well serve as a template for what the policy is designed to support at scale, a lean, carefully curated menu that represents all regions of the state, sourced with rigour, presented with intent. "The best thing we can do is stick to our roots, stick to authentic cuisine, make sure that we're presenting it well, make sure we're promoting it, and we're respecting the story behind it," she said.

With 15,000 hotel rooms, one lakh jobs, and a culinary identity finally backed by the state capital on the horizon, Odia cuisine's long-overdue national moment may have, at last, arrived.