BHUBANESWAR: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday announced that the State Government would set up a world-class startup hub in Bhubaneswar and launch a Fund-of-Funds for startups this year to boost the ecosystem.
Expressing satisfaction with the progress made under Odisha Startup Policy, Naveen reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to make Odisha one of the top-three startup hubs in the country. “Odisha has a large network of technical and professional institutions which provide a good talent pool for startups. So far, 570 startups have been registered in the State and one third among them are women entrepreneurs,” he said at an event organised for signing of MoU with HDFC Bank.
Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises department inked the pact with the private sector bank to promote and strengthen the startup ecosystem in the State. The collaboration would help extend smart banking solutions as well as mentoring support to startups recognised by Startup Odisha along with the opportunity to showcase their services.
“Young entrepreneurs are engines of growth for New Odisha. The partnership between Startup Odisha and HDFC Bank will open new possibilities for startups. The MSME as well as other departments must take up activities in all the institutions on a regular basis round the year,” the Chief Minister said.The bank will also provide incubation and acceleration support to all startups banking with them besides assisting Startup Odisha initiative to organise Startup Yatras, Hackathons, acceleration programme and startup conclaves.
As per the agreement, life skill will also be imparted to the students of all 49 Government ITIs of the State and the bank will enable startups to be listed on their Smart Buy platform for growth and visibility.The MoU was signed between Director of Industries cum CEO of Institute of Entrepreneurship Development (IED) Reghu G and Country Head (Government, e-commerce and Start-ups) of HDFC Bank Smita Bhagat.
“Startups are re-imagining and reshaping the world nowadays. We are already partnering with them by mentoring them and giving them a chance to work with us. The bank will now be able to extend end-to-end customised banking solutions to startups in Odisha,” said Bhagat.
Startups enrolled with the bank will be able to access its third party alliances to provide discounts across key business support functions like shared work spaces, digital marketing, content writing, tax and legal advisory, financial Management and compliance.