Political Business Daily: Odisha's English Newspaper of Politics and Business from Bhubaneswar
The Political Business Daily, widely known by its initials as PBD, is an English-language daily newspaper from Odisha, published from Bhubaneswar, the state capital, and also published simultaneously from Delhi. Its name declares its editorial territory: politics and business. In its own description, PBD is "an English newspaper with strong political content", whose e-paper "reports business, political and sports developments covering Odisha, India & Globe". In a state whose newspaper market is dominated by large Odia-language dailies, PBD occupies the English niche — the paper for readers who follow Odisha's politics, government and commerce in English, from officials and business readers in Bhubaneswar to the Odia diaspora abroad.
This profile is based on the paper's own published self-description, its e-paper service and its current news output. Public sources on PBD's founding and ownership are limited, and this article does not invent them; what can be documented — its language, its twin publication centres, its e-paper format, its subject mix and its place in Odisha's media landscape — is set out below.
Overview
The Political Business Daily is an English daily newspaper focused on Odisha. Its website, pbdodisha.in, carries the paper's news and brands its digital edition as the "Political Business Daily ePaper", and a companion e-paper service, epaperpbdodisha.in, publishes the full daily paper in page form — an issue runs to twelve pages — under the billing "PBD Odisha ePaper". The paper is published simultaneously from Bhubaneswar and Delhi, a detail attested by contributors who have noted their articles appearing in the paper from both cities at once. That two-city structure mirrors the paper's subject: Odisha politics is decided partly in Bhubaneswar and partly in New Delhi, and a political daily benefits from standing in both capitals.
A Niche in an Odia-Dominated Market
Odisha's newspaper readership is overwhelmingly Odia-speaking, and the state's big circulation titles publish in Odia. English newspapers in the state have historically been the Odisha editions of national titles published from outside. A locally produced English daily is therefore a deliberate niche play, and PBD's niche is announced in its masthead: politics and business, the two subjects on which Bhubaneswar runs. The capital is the seat of the state government, the state secretariat, the offices of public-sector and mining and metals companies, universities and the state's political parties. An English paper produced in that city, for that city, can cover the secretariat, the assembly and the boardroom with a local reporter's access while writing in the language of administration and commerce.
The paper's own description emphasises the political side of the pairing — "strong political content" — with business and sports completing the mix. Its current homepage output illustrates the blend: state government measures to protect and restore Jagannath temple land, senior officials speaking on urban services in Bhubaneswar, a state pilgrimage train for senior citizens, drinking-water technology in flood-hit Dhamnagar, and an Odisha government advisory agreement with the International Finance Corporation to strengthen the state's public-private partnership ecosystem. Politics, governance and the business of development — the PBD formula is visible in its daily news list.
Language and Editions
PBD publishes in English. That single choice defines its audience and its competition. Its readers are the English-reading public of Odisha — administrators, professionals, businesspeople, academics and students in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and the state's other cities — together with readers outside Odisha who follow the state, including the large Odia diaspora for whom the e-paper is the natural edition.
The paper's editions are anchored in Bhubaneswar, with simultaneous publication from Delhi. The e-paper service organises the paper by its Bhubaneswar edition, presenting each day's twelve pages for online reading. Publishing from Delhi as well gives the paper a national-capital presence appropriate to its political brief: Odisha's MPs, the state's interests in national policy, and central government decisions affecting Odisha all run through Delhi.
Coverage and Content
Politics comes first in PBD's self-description, and its coverage follows the political life of Odisha: the state government and its departments, the ruling and opposition parties, elections and policy. The Jagannath temple at Puri — whose land and administration are perennial state business — appears in its current coverage, as do the administrative-service voices of the capital, such as the Housing and Urban Development additional chief secretary's call for urban services to become simpler, faster and more responsive to citizens.
Business coverage, the second word in the paper's name, covers Odisha's economy: industry, mining and metals, infrastructure and the investment and partnership programmes the state government promotes, such as the IFC advisory pact reported on its homepage. Sports completes the trio named in the paper's description. Around these three pillars, the e-paper reports developments "covering Odisha, India & Globe" — state news first, national news second, and international news for context, in the standard architecture of an Indian English daily.
Print and Digital Presence
PBD's digital presence is built around the e-paper. The main site, pbdodisha.in, publishes the paper's news in web form and promotes the e-paper, while epaperpbdodisha.in serves the complete daily edition page by page, with dated issues archived day by day — the archive shows consecutive daily editions, evidence of an unbroken daily publication rhythm. The e-paper site has billed itself as Odisha's English daily e-paper, using the promotional label "No.1 English Daily Newspaper of Odisha" — a claim of positioning within its niche rather than an audited circulation ranking, and it is recorded here as the paper's own billing.
For an English paper in Odisha, the digital edition is strategically central: the state's English readers are the demographic most likely to read on screens, and the diaspora can only be reached digitally. The domain pbdodisha.in has been the paper's online home for years — third-party site records tracking the domain go back more than a decade — giving the title a settled digital identity alongside its print circulation in Bhubaneswar and Delhi.
Audience and Reach
The Political Business Daily addresses a defined audience: English readers interested in Odisha's politics and business. Within the state, that means the capital region's official, commercial and professional classes; beyond it, Delhi readers with Odisha interests and the global Odia community. The paper publishes no audited circulation or readership figures in the sources consulted for this profile, and its online traffic is modest by the measures of third-party rankers, which is consistent with a niche English daily in a vernacular-majority state. Its significance lies in specialisation rather than scale: for its subject — Odisha politics and business in English — it is one of very few homegrown titles, and its own e-paper branding claims the leading position in that small field.
The Odisha English Press Context
Understanding PBD requires the context of Odisha's media structure. The state's information ecosystem runs on Odia: Odia dailies, Odia television and Odia digital portals command the mass audience, and political communication aimed at voters is conducted in Odia. English journalism in Odisha has a different function — it is the language in which the state speaks to Delhi, to investors and to the outside world, and in which a part of its own administrative class reads. A Bhubaneswar-produced English daily therefore acts as a bridge: it reports Odisha's politics and business to audiences, including policymakers and businesses, who would not read the Odia press.
Simultaneous publication from Delhi strengthens that bridge. Odisha's relationship with the centre — over mining policy, disaster relief, infrastructure and industrial investment — is a standing story in the state's public life, and a paper standing in both cities can follow it at both ends.
Community and Professional Role
Papers of PBD's type serve the professional community of a state capital: the officials who see their departments reported, the business readers who follow state economic policy, and the political class that reads English coverage as a measure of how Odisha is seen outside itself. The paper also provides a platform for outside contributors — professional writers have recorded publishing articles in the Political Business Daily, published simultaneously from Bhubaneswar and Delhi — which is characteristic of English dailies that carry opinion and analysis from specialists alongside staff reporting.
Recent Developments
The Political Business Daily continues to publish daily, with its e-paper archive showing unbroken dated editions through 2026 and its website carrying current Odisha coverage — temple-land protection, urban services, pilgrimage travel, flood relief technology and the state's IFC partnership among recent homepage stories. In a media market where English titles from outside the state once defined the segment, PBD's continuation as a Bhubaneswar-and-Delhi English daily of politics and business is itself the development: a local English paper holding its niche, day after day, in Odisha's capital.
