BHUBANESWAR : Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Saturday launched several MSME infrastructure projects and unveiled the Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP)-Odisha chapter to strengthen manufacturing and promote women-led enterprises across the state.
The WEP-Odisha chapter, developed with support from NITI Aayog, was launched during the ‘Udyami Odisha MSME Programme’, marking the International MSME Day. Describing it as a mission to transform women into leaders of Odisha’s economic growth, Majhi said the platform would bring together Mission Shakti, MSME department, Startup Odisha, banks and industry associations to provide women entrepreneurs access to finance, markets, mentorship and skill development through a single-window ecosystem.
“Our vision is to build an Odisha where women are not job seekers but job creators, not merely consumers but producers, and not just participants but leaders of development,” the chief minister said while unveiling the platform’s one-year action plan.
Highlighting the impact of the Subhadra Yojana, Majhi said more than one crore women have been empowered under the scheme. Citing findings from IIM Sambalpur, SBI and an AI voice bot survey, he said women-led enterprises in the state have increased from 25 per cent to 53 per cent, while the average bank deposits of beneficiaries have risen by `6,887.
Majhi also inaugurated and laid the foundation for several MSME infrastructure projects. These include a `24.18-crore rice milling cluster in Balasore which will promote rice bran oil production and a `17.70-crore Rasagola cluster at Pahala, which is expected to raise daily production capacity from 7,000 kg to 11,000 kg.
In addition, two multi-product MSME parks, each developed at a cost of `10 crore, were inaugurated at Barapali in Ganjam district and Kesinga in Kalahandi district. Majhi said every district in Odisha would eventually have a multi-product MSME park with engineering, printing and packaging, and cashew processing clusters planned for the next phase.
He said over 4.32 lakh MSMEs in Odisha have benefitted from central and state government initiatives. Under the Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP), 4,900 enterprises have received subsidy support of `146 crore, with women accounting for 42.5 per cent of the beneficiaries. More than `23,000 crore in collateral-free loans have also been extended under the Credit Guarantee Scheme while the state government is bearing interest costs under the CM-SRIM scheme.
NITI Aayog vice-chairman Ashok Kumar Lahiri described Odisha as one of India’s fastest-growing states. Odisha has topped NITI Aayog’s Fiscal Health Index 2026, he said.
Deputy chief minister Pravati Parida and MSME minister Gokulananda Mallik were present.
