Bhubaneswar: A start-up event was held at Xavier Institute of Management here on Sunday.

The event, called Startup Samvaad, was organised in collaboration with the Association for Innovation Development of Entrepreneurship in Agriculture, which is a technology business incubator hosted by ICAR-National Academy of Agricultural Research Management, Hyderabad (ICAR-NAARM) and the Centre's department of science and technology.

The event facilitated the congregation of scholars and practitioners, experts in their domain, to deliberate on the importance of entrepreneurship. In the morning session, four agri-tech entrepreneurs pitched their ideas in front of the judges. These entrepreneurs were short-listed from 10 entrepreneurial ideas from across India.

The judges for the pitching event were Kamal Kishore Sharma (Co-Founder, Mentor at Startups), Vijay Nadiminti (COO, a-IDEA, NAARM) and Biswa Swarup Mishra, who teaches economics at XIMB.

The ideas of the entrepreneurs were closely analysed and they were provided with useful suggestions and recommendations.

In the afternoon session, Kamal Kishore Sharma delivered a keynote session on "Indian Startup Ecosystem: Drivers, Challenges" followed by Sunil Kumar Gupta of YES Bank, who spoke on Impact of financial literacy in Indian agriculture. The final keynote session was by Rajen Padhi (director-general, Utkal Chamber of Commerce, Industry Ltd.) on "Can India leverage agri-export for doubling farmers' income?".

The event concluded with a panel discussion on the theme of converging impacts of agri-start-ups on the status of farmers in India.

The participants for these events were not only XIMB students but also those from colleges across India.

This event discussed contemporary issues on agri-entrepreneurship.

The program helped sensitise entrepreneurs, students and agri-enthusiasts by focusing on the importance of entrepreneurship.