Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday inaugurated a tea packaging unit of Tata Consumer Products Limited at Gopalpur Industrial Park in Ganjam district.

The plant has been commissioned in a span of 18 months with an investment of Rs 100 crore.

The unit is expected to provide employment to more than 900 people in the district of Ganjam. “It will be developed as the largest tea packaging plant in the country,” a press release issued by the chief minister’s office said.

At present, the unit has a production capacity of 15 million kg tea which will be ramped up to 50 million kg.

The unit will cater to the needs of Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamilnadu, Telangana and central India. It will be operated by Amalgamated Plantations Private Limited, an associate of TCPL, the second-largest tea producer in India.

Patnaik said the Tata group has been playing a vital role in the industrial development of Odisha, adding that the state has been successful in mobilising investments in diverse sectors such as petro chemical, food processing, apparel and garment.

Tata Steel managing director T.V. Narendran said Tata Steel has invested over Rs 60,000 crore in Odisha in the last five years.

He added that Tata Steel has invested Rs 500 crore for infrastructure development of the Gopalpur special economic zone.