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Bhubaneswar: The state government will soon come up with a new start-up policy to encourage and facilitate investments in start-ups in the state in order to make Orissa one of the top three start-up destinations in the country in the next two years.
“With the supporting ecosystem available in the state, our vision is to see the state amongst the top three startup destinations in the country in the next two years,” said Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik during a meeting with a 13-member delegation of US-based TiE Silicon Valley at the secretariat Monday. “The government would shortly develop a focused policy for promoting start-ups to realise this collective vision,” he added.
Patnaik’s announcement of plans for start-ups in the state comes two days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled a national start-up India action plan to facilitate rapid expansion of the country’s already thriving start-up scene.
Stating that the state government looks forward to TiE Silicon Valley’s inputs in making the start-up policy apt and pragmatic, Patnaik said Industrial Promotion and Investment Corporation of Orissa (IPICOL) and TiE Silicon Valley have a one-of-its-kind agreement to foster the growth of start-ups in the state.
Patnaik further said policy and regulatory reforms implemented by his government are “very conducive” to the growth of startups. “The government is planning to set up incubators in the state to assist start-ups… The engagement of TiE Silicon Valley will ensure setting up world-class incubators in the state”.
Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi said the state’s new start-up policy would come up in the next three months. “TiE Silicon Valley would support us in preparing the start-up policy,” he added.
The delegation led by TiE president Venktesh Shukla, which arrived in the city Sunday, also met Padhi and other top government officials. Sources said the delegation also met the heads of some of the identified start-ups to discuss their business plans to pick some of them for mentoring.
The draft policy proposes development of a robust incubation and start-up ecosystem in the state by 2020 and aims at attracting Rs 1,000 crore of investments into this ecosystem, said sources. It also proposes to provide Rs 250 crore for youth entrepreneurship activities in the next five years, added the sources.