Odisha Govt To Buy Both Towers Of Startup Incubation Centre ‘O-Hub’ In Bhubaneswar

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Cabinet on Friday approved the outright purchase of both towers of O-Hub here from Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (Idco) at a cost of Rs 350 crore.

O-Hub building, constructed by Idco, comprises twin towers (Tower A and Tower B), each of G+12 floors, with a total built-up space of about 4 lakh square feet, spreading over 3.57 acres of land at Chandaka IT/ ITES SEZ. This land was leased out to the nodal agency for 99 years from March 25, 2006.

According to an official release, O-Hub will work as the main fulcrum of startup ecosystem in Odisha. The target is to house 5000 startups here by 2025. The building will remain under the operational control of Startup Odisha.

Notably, the state has seen a steady growth in number of startups since launch of Odisha Startup Policy 2016. More than 1600 startups have been recognised and number of incubators has increased to 26. The state government has envisaged to get 5000 startups and 50 incubators recognised/registered by 2025. Providing startups with modern and equipped infrastructure in the form of co-working space is of paramount importance to achieve such an ambitious target, the release added.

In December 2021, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had inaugurated O-Hub (Odisha Hub) with state-of-the-art facilities and plug-n-play infrastructure in the Special Economic Zone at Patia with an aim to mobilise start-up investments to the tune of Rs 100 crore per year.

The CM had then said that O-Hub will be the first point to identify the best in the industry for co-creation and development of business with their new ideas and it will be a conglomerate for business houses and innovation. The innovators, mentors, corporate partners, ecosystem enablers & facilitators will now work under one roof, he added.