‘Promotions Of Startups, Innovation, Entrepreneurship Remain Top Priority Of Odisha Govt’

Mumbai/Bhubaneswar: Promotions of Startups, Innovation and Entrepreneurship remain top priority of the Odisha government, said LN Gupta, Additional Chief Secretary, Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME).

Addressing the inaugural session of 7^th Global Economic Summit (GES) on Global Value Chains at the World Trade Centre in Mumbai on Thursday, Gupta said Integration of MSME sector with Global Value Chains requires the sector to focus more on innovation, be it product innovation or process innovation. “For that to happen, steady supply of skilled human capital needs to be ensured to drive the experiments with new ideas. Besides to make the integration effective, availability of World Class infrastructure backed by State of Art logistic services is necessary,” he pointed out.

Gupta further said the Odisha government has set up Odisha Skill Development Authority (OSDA) with an aim to train 11 Lakh youths by 2019-20 and 8.5 lakh youths have already been skilled. “The state government has been promoting the brand “Skilled in Odisha” globally with an objective to provide outstanding skilled work force comparable to the best in the world,” he added.

This apart, the Odisha government has also started Startup Odisha Initiative with the launch of Start-up Odisha Policy last year with a mission to support 1000 startups and vision of emerging amongst top three startup hubs in the country. “In the last 10 months, 175 startups are registered under the initiative. Besides, five registered and 20 other incubators are working under the initiative. We have also launched a massive program of Entrepreneurship development both online and offline,” he stated.

Gupta also spoke about various innovative technological interventions introduced by the Odisha government to facilitate industrial promotions and investment in time bound, hassle free, paperless and transparent manner like GO-SWIFT, GO-SMILE, APPA, GO-PLUS and GO-CARE. He called on the investors to visit Odisha during ensuing MSME International Trade Fair 2018 to be held from March 5 to 10 and the second Make-in-Odisha Conclave starting from November 11-15 to explore business opportunities.

The Team Odisha led by Gupta comprising of Directorate Of Export Promotion & Marketing (DEPM) and representatives of World Trade Center, Bhubaneswar later met the Ambassador of Poland, Representative of United Nations, ISRO, Minister Counselor Uganda High Commission, Counselor High Commission of Bhutan, Director General, Trade Promotion of Cambodia and sought their support in attracting investment and their participation in MSME International Trade Fair and the Make-in-Odisha Conclave in Bhubaneswar.

The GES 2018 organized by WTC, Mumbai is being attended by representatives of more than 20 countries and more than 350 delegates.