Dehradun/Mumbai: Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC), a Maharatna PSU of Government of India, has now joined the Startup Bandwagon. ONGC has launched a Rs 100 crore Startup fund on its Diamond Jubilee year to foster, nurture and incubate new ideas related to oil and gas sector. The initiative, known as ‘ONGC Start-up’, is in line with the Govt. of India’s Startup India mission.

As per the startup fund plan, ONGC will provide the entire support chain for start-ups including seed capital, hand-holding, mentoring, market linkage and follow-ups. ONGC Start-up aims at promoting the contribution of fresh implementable ideas in the oil and gas sector. ONGC is in the process of setting up a dedicated website to take this initiative forward. The website is under construction and link is given as:  http://startup.ongc.co.in/wps/wcm/jsp/ongc-startup/ 

After launching this initiative on 14 August 2016 at Dehradun, ONGC CMD Mr. Dinesh K Sarraf, said that the startup initiative will promote entrepreneurship among the younger Indians by creating an ecosystem that is conducive for growth of Start-ups in the oil & gas sector, which has a huge potential for technology-enabled ideas.

Mr Sarraf added that the Oil & Gas sector is contributing enormously to the growth of economy. Currently, the sector faces various critical challenges and new ideas are required to mitigate those challenges.

In a statement ONGC mentioned that to encourage its own employees to innovate, ONGC is also giving away awards to its three young officers for their innovative ideas. Rajendra Bhambhu and Deepak Naik have developed an innovative Safety Device for rigs that facilitates setting up of emergency brake to augment safety mechanism on drilling rigs. Prajesh Chopra has innovated a unique Dual SIM Cellular Router System that provides Data Connectivity at Work-over Rigs. This system curtails the hassle of frequent dismantling and reinstallation during rig transportation, thus saving time and money.