Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India

Bhubaneswar is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Odisha. The region, especially the old town, was historically often depicted as Ekamra Kshetra. Bhubaneswar is dubbed the “Temple City” – a nickname earned because of the 700 temples which once stood there. In contemporary times, it has emerged as an education hub and an attractive business destination. The history of the areas in and around the present-day city can be traced to the 7th century BCE and earlier. It is a confluence of Hindu, Buddhist and Jain heritage and includes several Kalingan temples, many of them from 6th-13th century CE.

The modern city was designed by the German architect Otto Königsberger in 1946 as one of modern India's first planned cities. Bhubaneswar and Cuttack are often referred to as the 'twin cities of Odisha' and together form a larger metropolitan area. Bhubaneswar is categorised as a Tier-2 city.

Bhubaneswar is an administrative, information technology, education and tourism city. Bhubaneswar was ranked as the best place to do business in India by the World Bank. Bhubaneswar has emerged as one of the fast-growing, important trading and commercial hub in the state and eastern India. Tourism is a major industry, attracting about 1.5 million tourists in a typical year. Bhubaneswar was designed to be a largely residential city with outlying industrial areas. The economy is dominated by retail and small-scale manufacturing, telecommunications, information technology (IT) and higher education.

As of 2001, around 2.15% of the city's workforce was employed in the primary sector (agriculture, forestry, mining, etc.); 2.18% worked in the secondary sector (industrial and manufacturing); and 95.67% worked in the tertiary sector (service industries).

Bhubaneswar has been listed among the top ten emerging cities in India by Cushman and Wakefield, taking into consideration factors like demographics, physical, social and real estate infrastructure, current level and scope of economic activities and government support. Bhubaneswar was ranked third among Indian cities, in starting and operating a business by the World Bank. Bhubaneswar has been traditionally home to handicrafts industry, including silver filigree work, appliqué work, stone and wood carvings and patta painting, which significantly contributes to the city's economy. More recently there has been a surge of investments in the real estate, infrastructure, retail and hospitality sectors; several shopping malls and organised retails opened outlets in Bhubaneswar.

The Department of Industries established four industrial areas in and around Bhubaneswar, in the Rasulgarh, Mancheswar, Chandaka, and Bhagabanpur areas. In the informal sector, 22,000 vendors operate in regulated or unregulated vending zones.

In 2009, Odisha was ranked ninth among Indian states in terms of software export by NASSCOM, with most IT/ITES companies established in Bhubaneswar. According to a recent survey, among the tier-2 cities in India, Bhubaneswar has been chosen as the best for conducting IT/ITES business. The government fostered growth by developing of IT parks such as Infocity-1, Infovalley, STPI-Bhubaneswar and JSS STP. Infocity was conceived as a five-star park, under the Export Promotion Industrial Parks (EPIP) Scheme to create infrastructure facilities for setting up information technology related industries. Infosys and Tech Mahindra have been present in Bhubaneswar since 1996. Other software companies include TCS, Wipro, IBM, Genpact, Firstsource, Mindtree, MphasiS, Ericsson, Semtech and Reliance Communications, AnantaTek and SA Intellect. Apart from the big multinationals, some 300 small and mid-size IT companies and business startups have offices in Bhubaneswar.