BHUBANESWAR: Odisha will soon have one of the country’s largest engineering clusters at Indranipatna industrial area of Cuttack. The cluster will come up incorporating the existing MSMEs under Micro and Small Enterprises - Cluster Development Programme (MSE-CDP) of the Centre. The Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development (IDCO) has allocated six acre of land for a common facility centre of the cluster and eight acre for the special purpose vehicle created for the project. The detailed project report of the mega venture has been approved by both the State and Centre.
An estimated Rs 31 crore will be spent on the cluster which is being promoted by the Odisha Assembly of Small and Medium Enterprises (OASME). While the Centre will provide Rs 18 crore, the State government will chip in with Rs 7.18 crore as grant assistance under MSE-CDP scheme. The contribution of SPV members will be Rs 5.31 crore.
As per the project details, the common facility centre for the engineering cluster will have latest machinery, computer numeric control (CNC) tools and equipment worth Rs 25 crore. It will support entrepreneurs and startups in the field of defence, aerospace, oil and natural gas as well as cater to the needs of MSMEs in the State.
Principal Secretary of MSME department Satyabrata Sahu said the mega engineering cluster is a part of entrepreneurial promotion as well as MSME development activities of the government. “All support is being provided to the SPV so that the project can be completed within one year. A new procurement policy is also coming up very soon which will give strong marketing support to local MSMEs,” he added.
While the cluster now has 88 member units of which, 17 belong to women entrepreneurs and 12 to tribal and scheduled caste entrepreneurs, the SPV has 61 member units from eight districts including industrially backward districts like Rayagada and Gajapati.
India’s largest engg cluster in Cuttack soon
Managing Director of the cluster Satwik Swain said the MSMEs running from the rented houses outside the Indranipatna industrial area in Choudwar will set up their units on the land provided to the SPV by the government and become part of the cluster.
“The common facility centre being set up for the purpose is one of the largest in the country in terms of availability of advanced equipment and facilities. It will have automated machine tools that function through the use of software embedded in microcomputer,” Swain said.
Passing out parade held
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Army Air Defence Centre in Gopalpur on Saturday. Total 363 trainee soldiers participated.