Toshi Tiwari
According to the Economic Survey 2018-19, about 50,158 MSME (micro, small and medium enterprise) units were set up in Odisha with an investment of ₹ 2,324.46 crore in the year 2017-18 and these new units have created employment opportunities for 147,000 people.
Until March 2019, 3,91,697 MSMEs have been established in the state, at an investment of ₹ 19,068 crore and employment for 15,27,373 persons.
The Economic survey highlighted that, during the last five years, a total of 1,98,736 MSME units were set up and started production with a total investment of ₹ 109.75 crore and employment for 628,000 persons in the state.
As per the survey, the MSME sector has great potential for employment generation in Odisha. It has been a focus area for the state government as indicated in the Industrial Policy Resolution 2015 and MSME Development Policy 2015.
According to the reports, repairing services accounted for the majority share, with almost 60 per cent share of total MSMEs set up in the state, generating 43.1 per cent of the total employment opportunities created through MSME units.
It is also reported that the maximum number of MSME units came up in Sundargarh district (4,462 units) followed by Cuttack (3,357) and Khurda (3,085) during the year 2017-18.
In fact, the state government has started Entrepreneurship Development Programmes (EDP), which are organised for a period of two weeks by Regional Industries Centres (RICs) and District Industries Centres (DICs) across the state.
The report also highlighted that during the year 2018-19, some 426 micro enterprises established by EDP trainees were generating employment opportunities for 1,740 youth.
The report also added that about 865 sensitisation programmes were organised across the state against proposed 855. The youth participating in these programmes are encouraged to undergo ‘online L&D programme’ for four weeks under the Start-up portal.
