Vision to place Odisha amongst top three start-up destinations: Naveen

BHUBANESWAR: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday said that he has set a vision to place Odisha amongst top three start-up destinations in next two years.

Holding a meeting with a 13-member delegation of US-based TiE Silicon Valley team to discuss start up policies to set up new industries in the state, he said Odisha government is planning to set-up incubators to assist start-ups in the state.

The delegation led by TiE President Venktesh Shukla, which arrived in the city on Sunday, met Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi on Monday.

The delegation discussed the proposed start-up policy for the state. The delegation will also meet some of the identified start-ups to discuss their business plans. TiE will subsequently mentor some of these start-ups, official sources said.

Chief Secretary Padhi said a new start up policy would come up in next three months in the state.

“The TiE Silicon Valley would support us in preparing the start up policy, which would come up in next two-three months,” said Padhi.

TiE Silicon Valley (TiE SV) is a non-profit association dedicated to fostering entrepreneurship globally. The Industrial Promotion and Investment Corporation of Odisha (IPICOL) had signed a MoU with TiE SV to promote start-ups and entrepreneurship in the state.

Industries Minister Debi Prasad Mishra said it is expected that a number of programmes will be launched by the government further to strengthen the start-up culture in the state.

“In association with TiE SV, new business incubators are expected to be set up to foster the growth of start-ups,” IPICOL sources said.

The draft policy proposes to make Odisha among the top three start-up destinations in the country by 2020 and to develop a robust ecosystem in five cities during this period.

The other objective of the draft policy is to attract Rs 1,000 crore of investments into the incubation and start-up ecosystem. It has proposed to provide Rs 250 crore for youth entrepreneurship activities for next five years or earmark one percent of the annual State budget, the sources said.