Paradeep, also spelled Paradip (originally Paradweep, also spelled Paradwip), is a major
industrial seaport
A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manc ...
town and
municipality
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality' ...
, nearly 80 km from
Cuttack
Cuttack (, or officially Kataka in Odia language, Odia ), is the former capital, deputy capital and the 2nd largest city of the Indian state of Odisha. It is also the headquarters of the Cuttack district. The name of the city is an anglicised f ...
city, in
Jagatsinghpur district of
Odisha
Odisha (), formerly Orissa (List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2011), is a States and union territories of India, state located in East India, Eastern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by ar ...
, India. Paradeep was constituted as an
NAC on 27 September 1979 and converted into a municipality on 12 December 2002. The nearest commercial airport is
Biju Patnaik International Airport.
The municipality comprises five Revenue Villages, namely Udachandrapur, Chauliapalanda, Sandhakuda, Bijayachandrapur, and Bhitaragarh. Given the increasing population and industrialisation, a proposal to include 15 villages (Paradeep, Garh, Niharuni, Niharuni Kandha, Chouki Matha, Udayabata, Nimidiha, Kotakula, Rangiagarh, Nua Sandhakud, Musadiha, Musadiha Jangle, Boitarkuda, Kaudia, Aganaasi, and Nuagarh) was sent to the state H. & U.D. Department in 2007.
Companies established in Paradeep include
IFFCO, Paradeep Phosphates Limited,
Indian Oil Corporation
Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL or IOC), trading as IndianOil, is an Indian multinational oil and gas company under the ownership of the Government of India and administrative control of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. It is ...
,
Bharat Petroleum
Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited is an Indian public sector oil and gas company, headquartered in Mumbai. It is India's second-largest government-owned downstream oil producer, whose operations are overseen by the Ministry of Petroleum and ...
,
Hindustan Petroleum
Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) is an Indian public sector undertaking in Petroleum industry, petroleum and natural gas industry, headquartered in Mumbai. It is a subsidiary of the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), which ...
,
Numaligarh Refinery Limited and
Goa Carbon Limited.
History
During the early 17th century, Paradip and its adjoining areas were connected to
Cuttack
Cuttack (, or officially Kataka in Odia language, Odia ), is the former capital, deputy capital and the 2nd largest city of the Indian state of Odisha. It is also the headquarters of the Cuttack district. The name of the city is an anglicised f ...
through the
Mahanadi river
The Mahanadi River is a major river in East Central India. It drains an area of around and has a total length of . Mahanadi is also known for the Hirakud Dam which was the first major multipurpose river valley project after India's independence ...
and its branches. Goods were transported to Cuttack from rural areas via the
Brahmani and
Dhamra
Dhamara is a Town and Notified Area Council In the Bhadrak district of Odisha state, India. Dhamara was constituted as an Nagar panchayat, NAC on 13 March 2024. It is a small community on the banks of the Dhamra River in the Bhadrak district of ...
rivers, although this was gradually discontinued due to silting of the river bed.
In 1819, the British constructed a harbour called False Point, north of the present site of Paradip. In 1862, the East India Irrigation Company explored the potential of Paradip for the transportation of rice from the area. The importance of Paradip grew during the great famine of 1866 when it was used as the main entry point for importing food materials into the famine-struck area.

During the early post-independence period, a minor port came into existence at Paradip in 1958 through the efforts of the State Government. Subsequently, the Government decided to construct a major port there. The foundation stone for
Paradip Port was laid on 3 January 1962 by
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, then Prime Minister of India. On completion in 1965, the port was taken over by the Government of India and was declared open on 12 March 1966. Paradip Port was declared the eighth major port of India and the first major deep sea port on the east coast commissioned after independence. The Paradip Port Trust came into being in 1967 for the development and management of the Port.
Geography
Paradip is located at . It has an average elevation of .
Climate
Transport
Paradeep is on
National Highway 53 and State Highway No. 12, and is also served by the broad-gauge electrified railway system of the East coast. Bus routes connect it to
Rourkela
Rourkela () is a planned city located in the northern district Sundargarh of Odisha, India. It is the third-largest Urban Agglomeration in Odisha after Bhubaneswar and Cuttack. It is situated about west of the state capital Bhubaneswar and is ...
,
Kolkata
Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...
,
Puri
Puri, also known as Jagannath Puri, () is a coastal city and a Nagar Palika, municipality in the state of Odisha in eastern India. It is the district headquarters of Puri district and is situated on the Bay of Bengal, south of the state ca ...
, and
Konark
Konark is a medium-sized town in the Puri district in the state of Odisha, India. It lies on the coast by the Bay of Bengal, 65 kilometres from the state capital Bhubaneswar. It is the site of the 13th-century Konark Sun Temple, Sun Temple, also ...
. It is also connected to
Cuttack
Cuttack (, or officially Kataka in Odia language, Odia ), is the former capital, deputy capital and the 2nd largest city of the Indian state of Odisha. It is also the headquarters of the Cuttack district. The name of the city is an anglicised f ...
by bus and train.
Paradip Port

The
Port of Paradip is the primary
port
A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manch ...
in Odisha, and one of the largest on India's east coast. Located on the
Bay of Bengal
The Bay of Bengal is the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean. Geographically it is positioned between the Indian subcontinent and the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese peninsula, located below the Bengal region.
Many South Asian and Southe ...
at a latitude of 20° 55.44' N and a longitude of 86°34.62' E, the port is built on an artificial
harbour
A harbor (American English), or harbour (Commonwealth English; see American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, spelling differences), is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be Mooring, moored. The t ...
, with ships accessing the port via human-made
lagoon
A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') an ...
s. The port handled over 100 million tonnes of cargo in 2017–2018, notably thermal coal and iron ore.
The port's of paved concrete storage area can hold about 1000 TEUs (20 ft). It has three mobile cranes, an in-house stuffing/destuffing facility, a siding facility, an RO-RO jetty, and single-point mooring.
Industry
Major industries in Paradip include:
*
Paradip Refinery, which is under
Indian Oil Corporation Limited, is a major
oil refinery
An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial processes, industrial process Factory, plant where petroleum (crude oil) is transformed and refining, refined into products such as gasoline (petrol), diesel fuel, Bitumen, asphalt base, ...
in Paradip with a capacity of 15 million
tonne
The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1,000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton in the United States to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the s ...
s per year
* Paradeep Phosphates Limited, a
fertilizer
A fertilizer or fertiliser is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soil or to plant tissues to supply plant nutrients. Fertilizers may be distinct from liming materials or other non-nutrient soil amendments. Man ...
company
* Multi Modal Logistics Park, Container Corporation of India Limited
* Paradeep Plastic Park Limited
*
Goa Carbon Ltd.'s petroleum coke
calcination
Calcination is thermal treatment of a solid chemical compound (e.g. mixed carbonate ores) whereby the compound is raised to high temperature without melting under restricted supply of ambient oxygen (i.e. gaseous O2 fraction of air), generally f ...
plant, with a capacity of 1,68,000 TPA
*
IFFCO's fertilizer plant
*
Essar Steel's pellet plant
*
IOCL marketing terminal
*
BPCL marketing terminal
*
HPCL marketing terminal.
*
Cargill
Cargill, Incorporated is an American multinational food corporation based in Minnetonka, Minnesota, Minnetonka, Minnesota, and incorporated in Wilmington, Delaware. Founded in 1865 by William Wallace Cargill, it is the largest privately held c ...
's edible oil plant
* Skol Breweries Ltd.'s East Coast Brewery
Paradeep has several upcoming steel plants, including a US$12 billion plant being developed by
POSCO
POSCO (formerly Pohang Iron and Steel Company) is a South Korean steel manufacturer headquartered in Pohang, South Korea. It had an output of of crude steel in 2015, making it the List of steel producers, world's sixth-largest steelmaker by thi ...
of South Korea. In addition, aluminium refineries, thermal power plants, and a petrochemical complex are under development.
Paradeep has been identified for development as one of the six major
Petroleum, Chemicals and Petrochemicals Investment Regions (PCPIRs) in India. The Paradeep PCPIR has identified an investment potential of US$68.84 billion, spread over in the area.
Demographics
As of the 2001 Indian
census
A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...
, Paradip had a population of 73,633.
The population was 58% male and 42% female, due to rapid migration of young industrial workers to the area. Paradeep has an average literacy rate of 73%, higher than the national average of 59.5%; male literacy is 79%, and female literacy is 65%. 12% of the population is under 6 years of age.
Languages
References
External links
*
Paradip Port Authority
{{Municipalities of Odisha
Cities and towns in Jagatsinghpur district
Port cities in India