Bhubaneswar: Chief minister Naveen Patnaik inaugurated a BPO and skill development and training centre here on Thursday. The centre, which will employ around 200 people to start with for back office operations, was set up by HDFC Bank.
Naveen said the centre was expected to grow into a major all-India business processing hub of the HDFC Bank employing more than 500 persons. He said: “It will be a major centre for skill development and training for eastern region.”
Mentioning that Bhubaneswar had emerged as one of the top investment-friendly cities in India and also recognized as a major education hub in the eastern region, the chief minister said: “We have taken up skill development in a big way and established the Odisha Skill Development Authority to provide overall direction for skill development programmers in various sectors. Our objective is to make Skilled-in-Odisha a global brand.”
Naveen lauded the initiative of HDFC Bank for complementing the efforts of the state government in this sphere and hoped that the skill development and training centre of HDFC Bank would provide greater employment opportunities for the youth of Odisha.
“I am told that the bank has taken up sustainable livelihood initiative for empowerment of rural women, benefiting over 3.30 lakh families through joint liability groups and self-help groups with credit of about Rs 900 crore. The bank has also opened 33 branches in un-banked areas with three in Malkangiri district,” he said.
Chief secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi said: “Two-thirds of our panchayats are still without banks and I do hope the HDFC Bank & all other banks will take all steps to see that Odisha is fully covered by the banking networks.”
HDFC Bank managing director Aditya Puri said: “We are very proud that we have helped 3.3 lakh households to achieve sustainability. The state government has been very co-operative and has helped us in achieving this.”
Note: News shared for public awareness with reference from the information provided at online news portals.
