Bhubaneswar: The State Government today signed an MoU with the National Stock Exchange (NSE) to enhance financial literacy through investor awareness programs and to implement the Student Skilling Programs for the youth across Odisha.
This MOU was exchanged between Sriram Krishnan, Chief Business Development Officer, NSE and Prashant Kishore Mohapatra, Special Secretary, Higher Education Department in the distinguished presence of Minister Suryabanshi Suraj.
Odisha has an expanding financial ecosystem and it is imperative to empower the students, investors and corporates. This understanding embraces various fabrics of the financial ecosystem targeting various stakeholders.
This multifaceted MoU is a step towards enhancing financial literacy, promoting investor awareness and fostering empowerment of the existing and new investors.
Additionally, the MoU focuses on preparing youth with essential skills through NSE’s Student Skilling Program—an initiative aligned with the central government’s vision of unlocking human capital and enabling both employability and self-employment in the BFSI sector.
The state government will not bear any cost for implementation of two courses on financial literacy programme. The NSE will impart two fundamental courses as part of its corporate social responsibility (CSR) activity, said Shri Suraj.
After imparting the coaching, the youths can build careers as mutual fund advisor, financial advisor, policy broker and stock broker, Suraj said, adding, it will largely benefit the commerce stream students.
Earlier, the State Government had collaborated with BFSI and Board of Practical Training (BOPT).
During that time, one private firm had announced plans to provide placement to 5,000 youths. So far, 394 students from 58 colleges have participated in the placement drive by the company, of which 238 students have received offer letters, he said.
The Minister further informed that the Odisha Government will take steps to include such placement-linked programmes in the curriculum.
Sriram Krishnan, chief business development officer, NSE said, “Through initiatives like investor awareness programs and the student skilling programme, we are fostering a well-informed community for both seasoned and new investors. Moreover, we are also committed to equipping the youth of Odisha with the vital skills needed to thrive in today’s ever-evolving financial landscape.”
From April 2024 to March 2025, the NSE conducted 14,679 investor awareness programmes across all 36 states & Union Territories in 14 languages, reaching more than 8 lakh participants. Under the student skilling programme, more than 7500 students have been trained across various states, sources said.