Bhubaneswar, Mar 30: Yesterday the Odisha cabinet gave a green signal to seven proposals among which one was to extend the renunciation of value added tax (VAT) on pulses till Jun 30. The decision was taken in view of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) bill which to come into effect from Jul 1. The Cabinet Meet was conducted under the chairmanship of minister and Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik. A proposal to offer 3.5 acre land free of cost for the establishment of an IT park in Rourkela was also approved. The other proposals which get the nod were to provide 51-acre land to Omfed for a milk processing plant at Baranga in Cuttack. The plant would be processing surplus milk from the farmers to produce processed products like ice cream, paneer, curd and milk powder. The National Bank for Agriculture & Rural Development (Nabard) has sanctioned loan of Rs 244 crore from the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) for this plant and the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) has been roped in as the consultant for this project. Amendments to Odisha Start-up Policy proposed by the MSME department was also approved and so from now on start-ups will get incentives on an individual basis. The amendment would be beneficial to uplift the MSME sector.
