Microbes are rich sources of natural products like secondary metabolites, enzymes and proteins. In this context the primary objective of the present work is to isolate microbes from natural habitats and characterize them on the basis of their ability to produce metabolites. Since estuaries are the junction of marine and coastal habitats and harbour a plethora of microbes therefore in this study estuaries along the coastal district of Balasore, Odisha were screened for cellulase secreting bacteria. Cellulase forms an important component of enzyme cocktail used for degradation of lignocellulosic biomass for production of biofuel. Several rounds of sampling, pure culture, morphological, biochemical and phylogenetic screening led to the identifi cation of Lysinibacillus sp. having the ability to secrete cellulase. Physical as well as nutritional characterization like optimization of media, temperature, carbon and nitrogen requirements was performed to enhance the biomass formation. The isolated strain of Lysinibacillus sp. showed higher biomass and growth rate at 37°C, in Terrifi c Broth media supplemented with 0.5% Glucose and 0.5% Sodium Nitrite. Submerged fermentation under anaerobic condition at 37°C for 5 days led to release of 9.85μmole of glucose/ml of enzyme.