ONGC has launched a Rs 100 crore Start-up fund on its Diamond Jubilee year to foster, nurture and incubate new ideas related to oil and gas sector. The initiative, christened as ‘ONGC Start-up’, is in line with the Govt. of India’s initiative ‘Start-up India’.

As part of this initiative, ONGC will provide the entire support chain for start-ups including seed capital, hand-holding, mentoring, market linkage and follow-ups. The aim of ‘ONGC Start-up’ is to increase the contribution of fresh implementable ideas in the oil and gas sector. ONGC is setting up a dedicated website to take this initiative forward.

After launching this initiative on 14 August 2016 at Dehradun, ONGC CMD Mr. Dinesh K Sarraf, said that this 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.

e 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.

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.