GUWAHATI, Nov 6 - The �OIL Startup Fund� recently announced by public sector giant Oil India Limited (OIL) is intended to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship in the northeastern region and the company hopes that it will also lead to employment generation and creation of business opportunities in the region.
Addressing a press conference here today, the Chairman and Managing Director of OIL, Utpal Bora said that the Rs 50-crore fund would promote entrepreneurship among younger Indians by creating an ecosystem that is conducive to the growth of startups in the oil and gas sector, which has a huge scope for application of technology-enabled ideas.
The OIL CMD said that while the oil and natural gas sector is contributing enormously to the growth of the country�s economy, the sector faces various critical challenges and new ideas are required to negotiate those challenges.
�OIL will be partnering with institutes of excellence in the North-east. Initially, we have identified IIT Guwahati to take this initiative forward, wherein the institutes shall facilitate idea incubation. In this regard, we have concluded preliminary discussions with IIT Guwahati on November 4 and IIT Guwahati has agreed to provide three slots at its incubation centre,� Bora said, adding that a formal MoU will be signed with IIT Guwahati in the first week of December.
�Later on, we will bring some other universities and technical institutes to the fold to take the initiative forward,� he said.
OIL also plans to create a dedicated website for its startup initiative for inviting applications with project ideas.
The ideas and applications received through the website will be evaluated and examined by a screening committee comprising experts from OIL and IIT Guwahati.
Bora said all the arrangements for the initiative will be completed by the end of the current fiscal and OIL hopes to start work on the first startup by the beginning of the next financial year.
The OIL CMD added that the company would also open a skill development institute at Amingaon and a place has been given to it by the State government for this purpose.
Besides, a driving institute to train youths on high-skilled driving, including heavy vehicles and cranes, is also coming up at Amingaon on the outskirts of the city, for which the State government has allotted 80 bighas of land. This will be operated as a registered society in collaboration with the State government and auto major Maruti Suzuki India, Bora further said.
