The primary productivity of the river Rushikulya in the district of Ganjam, Odisha has been assessed from January to December during 2013 and 2014 at three different study stations. The lowest (0.19 gcm-2day-1) and (0.21 gcm-2day-1)while the highest 1.79 and 1.76 gcm-2day-1 values of NPP were recorded during August and April of 2013 and 2014 respectively. This is comparable to the production of riverine ecosystem in the tropics. However the rate of primary production is adversely affected by environmental pollutants.