Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Saturday launched the Odisha chapter of the Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP), supported by NITI Aayog, with an aim to strengthen women-led enterprises and promote women’s economic leadership in the state’s development journey.
Launching the platform during the ‘Udyami Odisha MSME Programme’ and International MSME Day celebrations at the Convention Centre in Lok Seva Bhavan, Majhi said the initiative was not merely an institution but a mass movement to transform women into job creators and leaders of development.
“Our goal is to build an Odisha where women will not seek jobs but will create jobs; they will not merely be consumers of various products but will themselves become producers; they will not only be participants in development but will lead development,” the Chief Minister said.
Majhi also unveiled a one-year Action Plan for the Women Entrepreneurship Platform, which will serve as a single-window support mechanism by bringing together Mission Shakti, the MSME Department, Startup Odisha, banks and industry bodies to provide women entrepreneurs with access to finance, markets, mentorship, skill development and other support services.
Highlighting the impact of the Subhadra Yojana, the Chief Minister said more than one crore women had been empowered under the scheme and were progressing towards economic self-reliance. Citing data from IIM Sambalpur, SBI and an AI Voice Bot Survey, he said the share of women-led enterprises in Odisha had increased from 25 per cent to 53 per cent, while the average bank deposits of beneficiaries had risen by Rs 6,887.
Several partnerships were also announced in the areas of handicrafts, skill development, homestays and technology to further strengthen the entrepreneurial ecosystem for women.
Emphasising the importance of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) as the backbone of Odisha’s economy, Majhi inaugurated a Rice Milling Cluster in Baleshwar built at a cost of Rs 24.18 crore to promote rice bran oil production. He also laid the foundation stone for a Rs 17.70-crore Rasagola Cluster at Pahala, which is expected to increase the area’s daily production capacity from 7,000 kg to 11,000 kg.
Additionally, two Multi-Product MSME Parks, developed at a cost of Rs 10 crore each, were inaugurated at Barapalli in Ganjam district and Kesinga in Kalahandi district. The Chief Minister said Engineering, Printing & Packaging and Cashew Clusters would also be launched in the near future, while one Multi-Product MSME Park was being established in every district of the state.
Majhi said more than 4.32 lakh MSMEs in Odisha had benefited from the combined efforts of the Central and State governments. Under the Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP), subsidies worth Rs 146 crore had been provided to 4,900 enterprises, with women accounting for 42.5 per cent of the beneficiaries. He added that collateral-free loans exceeding Rs 23,000 crore had been extended under the Credit Guarantee Scheme, while the state government was bearing the interest burden under the CM-SRIM scheme.
The Chief Minister said Odisha’s exports had reached Rs 95,568 crore during the previous year and expressed confidence that the MSME sector would play a key role in achieving the state’s target of becoming a $500-billion economy by 2036.
Addressing the gathering, NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Dr Ashok Kumar Lahiri said Odisha was emerging as a new growth engine under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Purvodaya vision. He noted that the state’s Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) growth rate had outpaced the national GDP growth rate and said Odisha had secured the top position in NITI Aayog’s Fiscal Health Index 2026 due to sustained investments in health and infrastructure.
Lahiri described Odisha as a “Dynamic Odisha” making significant progress in sunrise sectors such as textiles and tourism and identified women’s empowerment as the foundation of the state’s economic advancement. He also urged the state government to closely monitor its Vision 2036 targets.
Deputy Chief Minister and Women & Child Development Minister Pravati Parida said the launch of the platform marked the beginning of a new chapter for women entrepreneurs, while MSME Minister Gokulananda Mallik expressed confidence that women entrepreneurs would play a decisive role in achieving Odisha’s development goals by 2036.
The programme was attended by Balasore MP Pratap Chandra Sarangi, Chief Secretary Anu Garg, NITI Aayog Programme Director and WEP Mission Director Anna Roy, Women & Child Development Commissioner-cum-Secretary Mrinalini Darswal, senior government officials, industry representatives and thousands of women entrepreneurs from across the state. District administrations of Ganjam, Baleshwar and Kalahandi joined the event virtually.
