Nasscom plans 'start-up warehouse' in Odisha

Odisha govt plans to create enabling a supporting eco-system to set up 1,000 start-ups in next 5 years in the state

IT industry body Nasscom is in talks with Odisha government for setting up a start-up warehouse under the former’s start-up warehouse programme that aims to incubate, fund and provide ambient support to impact 10,000 technology start-ups in India, by 2023.

“Nasscom intends to set up a start-up ware house in Odisha. They have sought about 10,000 sq ft to develop about 80 seats in three years with plug and play facilities . The state government may provide space at the OCAC (Odisha Computer Application Centre) tower”, said an official.

Start-ups will be shortlisted by Nasscom, and they have rigorous process of selection, he added.

Presently, the Start-up Warehouse Programme is operational in Bangalore, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune, Kochi, Vizag, Delhi, Chennai, Noida and Gurgaon. Under the programme, Nasscom aims to nurture the hatching start-ups into full-fledged technology stalwart companies, by giving them support via access to start-up incubators, accelerators, angel investors, venture capitalists, start-up support groups, mentors, and technology corporations.

The tower offers working space to IT start-ups and IT/ITes and Electronic System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) MSME units, boosting the state's IT sector.

Nasscom's proposal will also give a fillip in creating a start-up eco-system in the state, said the official.

Aiming for an ambitious target of emerging as top three “start-up Hubs” in India by 2020 , the Odisha government plans to create enabling environment and supporting eco-system to set up 1,000 start-ups in next five years in the state.

The policy promises to set up Start-up Capital Infrastructure Fund with an initial corpus of Rs 25 crore to support development of hard and soft infrastructure for the start-up ecosystem in the state such as physical infrastructure for incubators including testing labs, design studio, tool rooms, virtual incubators. The state government to encourage sector-specific incubators in areas such as IT/ITes, ESDM, healthcare and sanitation, agri business and food processing, hi-tech farming, tourism, textiles and garments, chemical and petrochemicals, downstream and ancillary.