Bhubaneswar, May 2: The state government has launched a website that will act as a one-stop destination for various information and services related to entrepreneurship.

Chief minister Naveen Patnaik yesterday launched startupodisha.gov.in to facilitate start-ups and incubators under the Odisha Start-Up Policy. According to business terms, incubator stands for a company that helps a start-up develop by providing it management training or office space.

Besides, the portal will also serve as a channel for information exchange related to the start-up ecosystem with all relevant stakeholders. The start-up ecosystem is formed by the stakeholders in various stages or organisations, which interact as a system to create and scale new start-up companies.

The chief minister affirmed that the website had been designed to adhere to three principles - ease of usage, transparency and knowledge sharing.

He called upon the youth of Odisha to take full advantage of the initiative to realise their dreams. "We have recently made an upward revision in the benefits that are available to start-ups and incubators under the policy. I feel the website will act as a catalyst in boosting the start-up ecosystem in the state and in achieving the Mission-1000 start-ups by 2020," said Naveen.

Last year, the state government had set a target of creating 1,000 start-ups by 2020.

The portal provides essential sample tools and templates on commercial lease agreement, consultancy agreement, employment agreement and non-disclosure agreement that are regularly required by start-ups during their operations.

Another highlight is a four-week online learning and development programme on entrepreneurship for youngsters made available for free. It has six modules and has been developed by UpGrad in association with Invest India. The MSME department has created the portal, through which registered firms can avail themselves of financial benefits that were incorporated in the Odisha Start-Up Policy amended in March.

According to the amended policy, the start-ups can get a monthly assistance of Rs 20,000 at the idea and prototype stage for one year. Similarly, the marketing and product development assistance to a ceiling of Rs 15 lakh can also be provided through the portal. With the portal being directly linked to ministry of company affairs, all firms registered with it are reflected on the start-up portal automatically.

For the incubators, the process of matching capital grants has also been introduced. Facilities such as one-time grant of 50 per cent of capital cost up to a maximum of Rs 1 crore to set up an existing incubator facility and day-to-day utility expenses assistance for three years are also available directly through the portal.

At present, the state has 225 start-ups and 24 incubation centres.