Encouraged by the Centre’s proposed Start-up Plan, the State Government is now mulling to promote the capital city to be amongst the top three start-up ecosystems in the country.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already announced that the Start-up Plan would be launched on January 16.
Taking views of industrial investment experts, the Industries Department is planning to promote new-age entrepreneurs. It is trying to create a strong local culture for entrepreneurship.
International consultant KPMG, which has been roped in to prepare the Odisha Industrial Development Plan (OIDP), has suggested for making Bhubaneswar a Global Start-up Hub in focus sectors.
It has suggested the department to fund at least 10 shortlisted start-ups each year in each of five identified focus sectors with an annual fund allocation of Rs100 crore.
Setting up of Bhubaneswar Start-up City Centre in Private Public Partnership (PPP) Mode by providing plug and play Infrastructure would help the new age entrepreneurs.
The KPMG has suggested the Government to partner with an agency for Bhubaneswar Start-up Cell to provide dedicated support to start-ups with regard to regulatory compliances.
It suggested implementing a facilitative tax regime with no VAT for initial five years for Start-ups.
As per the proposal, the proposed start-ups would participate in the Government procurement for helping out the idea of ‘Make in Odisha’.
Plans are being made to attract at least Rs 1,000 crore investments for the proposed incubation and start-up ecosystem.
As Odisha is eyeing to be the largest manufacturing hub in the eastern India by 2025, start-ups would play a bigger role in this regard, said an Industries official.