Odisha trains 320 women directors of 64 producer companies with XIMB

Odisha's Mission Shakti Department has begun a state-wide training programme for the women who sit on the boards of women-led producer companies. Deputy Chief Minister Pravati Parida opened it in Bhubaneswar on Monday, October 26, 2026. The programme is run with the Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar (XIMB) and the National Institute for Social Work and Social Sciences (NISWASS), and will train 320 board members from 64 women producer companies in 13 batches between October 26 and December 22, 2026.

A producer company is a business owned by its members, usually small farmers or rural producers, who pool their produce so they can buy inputs more cheaply, sell in bulk and bargain for better prices. In Odisha, many such companies have grown out of women's self-help groups. Their members may already be skilled at farming, processing or handicrafts, but running a registered company is different: it involves board meetings, accounts, legal compliance, contracts with buyers and decisions on loans and investment.

That is the gap this programme is meant to close. The 320 women being trained are directors, not just members. They sign off on the company's decisions and are answerable for its money. Training them through a business school such as XIMB, along with a social-work institute such as NISWASS, brings management teaching and grassroots experience into the same classroom.

At the launch, Parida said the state government supports women's enterprises through money from the state budget, interest-free bank loans, training, skill development and other programmes. The new course moves the focus from starting enterprises to running them well. A self-help group that borrows a few lakh rupees to start a small business needs basic bookkeeping; a producer company that buys and sells crops for hundreds of farming households needs planning, marketing and governance.

Mission Shakti is one of Odisha's largest programmes for women. Estimates of its reach vary between sources, but it is commonly described as covering around 70 lakh women in six to seven lakh self-help groups. The state first capped interest-free SHG loans at Rs 3 lakh, raised the limit to Rs 5 lakh in April 2022 and to Rs 10 lakh in February 2024. In April 2025, the Chief Minister approved continuing the interest-free loan facility for 2025-26 and later years, according to an official release at the time.

Short-term: Board members from the 64 companies will spend the coming eight weeks in training on leadership, management and business planning, batch by batch.

Long-term: If the training works, these companies should be better able to keep accounts, meet compliance rules, negotiate with buyers and take on larger loans. That could raise incomes for the farming households that sell through them. The real test will be the companies' sales and finances over the next few years, which the department has not yet said how it will track.

Who is affected: The 320 women directors, the members of the 64 producer companies, the rural households that sell produce through them, and the buyers and lenders who deal with them.

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