Odisha Strides Ahead In Startup Initiative: Chief Secy

Bhubaneswar: Odisha strides ahead in Startup initiative with an average rate of 20 startups recognized per month which is more than the national average, informed chief secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi on Thursday.

Chairing the Startup Council Meeting held at secretariat conference hall, additional chief secretary, micro small & medium enterprises Laxi Narayan Gupta presented the updates and outlined the issues for discussion.

Considering the proposals, the chief secretary gave nod to three new nodal agencies, financial assistance for 2 new incubators and need-based assistance for 2 new startups.

Approving the proposals, Padhi directed to have close need-based mentoring of the startups so as to make them successful entrepreneurs and producers.

Development Commissioner R Balakrishnan who was also present in the meeting advised the department to organize a startup conclave along with one Make in Odisha conclave.

The meeting approved the proposals for registering three new institutions as nodal centers for the startups. They are the Institute of Hotel Management (Bhubaneswar), Sri Sri University (Cuttack) and NIST (Berhampur).

The proposal for providing financial assistance to Technology Business Incubator in NIIT, Rourkela and Technology Business Incubator in KIIT, Bhubaneswar were also approved in the meeting.

Need-based assistance was approved in favour of Ordunio Labs for carrying forward its innovation of embedded Sim. The innovative ideas of Coastkings Pvt Ltd for seafood processing and packaging was also accorded approval for need-based assistance.

Review of the activities taken so far revealed that in Odisha, startup initiative has registered around 233 startups across 39 sectors within one year with a registration rate of around 20 per month. These units are presently providing employment to around 2000 persons.