Pratap Keshari Deb, the minister in charge of industries, MSME, and power in the state of Odisha, stated on Sunday that startups are the only route through which the state can produce self-made businesspeople and turn into the industrial centre of the nation within the next five to seven years.
Deb explained at the Startup Mela 2023 that Odisha cannot continue to be a service state and that local business owners must begin manufacturing in order to compete at the national level.
“We received an intent of Rs 10.5 lakh crore at the recently completed Make-in-Odisha summit. According to prior performance, even if we can successfully implement 30% of the plans, we will have generated an additional Rs 40,000 crore in income and more than 2.5 lakh jobs, he continued.
Omkar Rai, executive chairman of Startup Odisha, spoke at the event and stated that the startup mela is another step in realising the goal of providing students with mentorship on how to access the ecosystem and turn their ideas into products.
Saswat Mishra, the principal secretary of the MSME department, gave advice to the student community on how to apply for startup incentives. He said that only new businesses that primarily use science and technology, new manufacturing processes, or products that are based on patents are covered by the startup policy.
The two-day event also featured a variety of interactive sessions, such as the special “Ask Subroto Bagchi” event where the chairman of the Odisha Skill Development Authority spoke with students and offered advice to aspiring business owners.
Prasanta Patnaik 
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