Odisha to tap PSUs’ CSR funds for spurring start-ups: CM

Odisha, a late entrant into the start-up space, is firming up its presence in the sector with a slew of innovative ideas and approaches.

To begin with, it would tap Public Sector Units’ (PSUs) Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds to finance incubators and set up an angel network, a first for a State government.

This would be followed by setting up of an innovation fund, appointing nodal agencies and roping in mentors such as T-Hub CEO Jay Krishnan and Google’s Vice-President for South- East Asia and India Rajan Anandan among others.

“The government will request PSUs based in the State to leverage their CSR funds to set up incubators in the technical institutes and universities. We expect every PSU to invest at least ₹10 crore,” Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik told BusinessLine in an exclusive interview.

The State government intends to tap PSUs such as Mahanadi Coal Fields, NTPC, National Aluminium Company Ltd, Indian Oil Corp, Paradip Port Trust and Odisha Mining Corp among others.

A likely location for incubators – such as VSS University of Technology (Burla), Sambalpur University, Central University of Odisha (Koraput), Fakir Mohan University (Balasore) among others – have also been finalised, he added.

The Companies Act, 2013, permits corporates to invest their CSR spend on incubators set in Central government-registered educational institutions.

The State is also planning to set up a VC fund, roping in corporates, to “spur the spirit of innovation and start-ups”. The government would provide 25 per cent of the total corpus, which is yet to be finalised, and the remaining would be raised from corporates.

“This is in planning stages and will take some time,” Patnaik added.

The State is also planning to set up an angel network — BhubaneswarAngel Network — and an innovation fund, while it is also gearing up for hackathons and start-up conclave among others. It will also set up incubation centres in Berhampur, Sambalpur, Balsara, Rourkela and Jeypore.

Odisha isalso roping in six institutions as nodal agencies — Indian Institute of Technology-Bhubaneswar; National Institute of Technology-Rourkela; Software Technology Parks of India-Bhubaneswar/Rourkela/Berhampur/Balasore among others — as nodal agencies to certification of start-ups. These nodal agencies would also assess these start-up on funding eligibility.

In 2016, Odisha introduced its start-up policy, which was later amended in March 2017 to make it “more effective and fruitful”.

“Before formulating the policy, we reviewed the start-up policies of all other States. I think ours will be one of the best in the country,” the Chief Minister said.

“My government has recently made an upward revision in benefits available to start-up and incubators under the Odisha Start-up Policy. I would urge upon the youth to take full advantage of the Start-up Odisha Initiative to realise their dreams,” Patnaik added.

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