‘NSIC ready for incubation centre in Odisha’
BHUBANESWAR: Chairman-Cum-Manging Director of National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC) Ravindra Nath on Thursday said, the corporation is ready to set up incubation centres for entrepreneurship development in Odisha, provided the State Government offered necessary building infrastructure. Addressing a seminar on “Development of MSMEs with Focus on Women & ST/SC Entrepreneurs/ Startups” on the sidelines of Odisha International MSME Trade Fair-2018, Nath said NSIC will bring plant and machinery required for incubation support to the budding entrepreneurs under the ASPIRE scheme. He also invited a group of entrepreneurs from Odisha to visit their Incubator and Advance Learning Centre at New Delhi.
“With the creation of National ST/SC Hub since 2016, various special incentives have been extended to ST/SC entrepreneurs in procurement by CPSUs,” he said. The corporation has already organised 20 SC/ST conclaves in the current year and the next one will be held in Odisha shortly, he informed. Minister, MSME Prafulla Samal said the State Government is committed to empower women socially and economically. Through Mission Shakti and other programmes of MSME and Industries Department, necessary facilitation is being made available to women to set up their own enterprises.
Speaking on the occasion, Additional Chief Secretary, MSME Department LN Gupta said 38,477 MSMEs in Odisha are led by women. In terms of share, it accounts for 12.3 per cent of the total MSMEs and higher than the national average, he said. At least nine per cent MSMEs are owned by persons from SC category while six per cent are by people from the ST category. Gupta informed that Odisha MSME Policy, 2016 offers additional incentive of five per cent to MSMEs promoted by women and ST and SC entrepreneurs, while Odisha Food Processing Policy offers eight per cent over and above what is available to entrepreneurs of general category.
Addressing the seminar, Principal Secretary, Industries Sanjeev Chopra called upon MSMEs, including women entrepreneurs to use online platforms like GO SWIFT, Go Smile and APPA. The Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation has more than 50,000 acres in its land bank for the entrepreneurs intending to set up industry in Odisha, he informed. Odisha Medical Corporation Ltd, Managing Director, Archana Patnaik said MSMEs are preferred in procurement of drugs to the volume of 20 per cent of total quantity. Co-Founder and Executive Director of Milk Mantra Rashima Misra; Secretary, Govinda Dhupakathi Cluster, Govindpur, Dhenkanal, Jagyaseni Jena and Co-Founder and president, Luminous Infoways, Jayashree Mohanty, also spoke.