Odisha launches women entrepreneurship drive, opens MSME parks

Chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Saturday launched the Odisha chapter of the Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP), an initiative supported by NITI Aayog to promote women-led entrepreneurship across the state.

The platform was unveiled during the ‘Udyami Odisha MSME Programme’ organised on the occasion of International MSME Day.

Describing the initiative as a major step towards strengthening women’s economic leadership, Majhi said WEP-Odisha would provide women entrepreneurs with access to finance, mentorship, marketing support and skill development.

“This is a grand campaign of women’s economic leadership in the development journey of Odisha,” the chief minister said.

The WEP-Odisha chapter has been developed with support from NITI Aayog and will bring together Mission Shakti, the MSME department, Startup Odisha, banks and industry associations through a single-window ecosystem.

“Our vision is to build an Odisha where women are not job seekers but job creators, not merely consumers but producers, and not just participants but leaders of development,” the chief minister said while unveiling the platform’s one-year action plan.

Highlighting the impact of the Subhadra Yojana, Majhi said more than one crore women have been empowered under the scheme.

Citing findings from IIM Sambalpur, SBI and an AI voice bot survey, he said women-led enterprises in the state have increased from 25 per cent to 53 per cent, while the average bank deposits of beneficiaries have risen by Rs 6,887.

Alongside the launch of WEP-Odisha, the chief minister inaugurated and laid the foundation stone for several MSME infrastructure projects aimed at boosting manufacturing activity in the state.

The projects include a Rs 24.18 crore rice milling cluster in Balasore, which will promote rice bran oil production, and a Rs 17.70 crore Rasagola cluster at Pahala. The cluster is expected to increase daily production capacity from 7,000 kg to 11,000 kg.

Two multi-product MSME parks, each developed at a cost of Rs 10 crore, were also inaugurated at Barapali in Ganjam district and Kesinga in Kalahandi district.

Majhi said every district in Odisha would eventually have a multi-product MSME park, with engineering, printing and packaging, and cashew processing clusters planned in the next phase.

According to the chief minister, more than 4.32 lakh MSMEs in Odisha have benefited from central and state government initiatives.

Under the Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP), 4,900 enterprises have received subsidy support of Rs 146 crore, with women accounting for 42.5 per cent of the beneficiaries.

More than Rs 23,000 crore in collateral-free loans have also been extended under the Credit Guarantee Scheme, while the state government is bearing interest costs under the CM-SRIM scheme.

NITI Aayog vice-chairman Ashok Kumar Lahiri described Odisha as one of India’s fastest-growing states and said the state has topped NITI Aayog’s Fiscal Health Index 2026.

Deputy chief minister Pravati Parida and MSME minister Gokulananda Mallik were present at the programme.