Aditya Aluminium’s Project SHAKTI creates pathways of empowerment for women in Odisha

THEBUSINESSBYTES BUREAU

BHUBANESWAR, SEPTEMBER 11, 2025

Aditya Aluminium, a subsidiary of the Aditya Birla Group, is steadily transforming lives in rural Odisha through its flagship community development initiative, Project SHAKTI. Launched in August 2019, the project is enabling women from underprivileged backgrounds in Sambalpur district to move beyond subsistence living and embrace self-reliance through entrepreneurship and leadership.

“Project SHAKTI is not just about economic empowerment; it’s about instilling confidence and fostering leadership among women,” said Kailash Pandey, Mining Business Head and Cluster Head of Hindalco Sambalpur. “By equipping them with tools, training, and market linkages, we aim to create a ripple effect of positive change that has already reached over 2,000 women across 40 villages,” he added.

Since inception, the project has engaged 2,185 self-help group (SHG) members across 215 groups, fostering entrepreneurship in activities such as tailoring, mushroom cultivation, vegetable farming, leaf plate making, bamboo crafts, and turmeric farming. Beyond training, SHGs are guided in accessing social schemes, financial literacy, and leadership development. Exposure visits, participation in fairs, and collaborations with government agencies ensure that their enterprises gain both visibility and sustainability.

A hallmark of Project SHAKTI is its value-chain approach, which integrates local production and consumption. For example, SHGs cultivating turmeric supply raw material to spice-making groups, ensuring fair profits while cutting out middlemen. This not only strengthens local economies but also encourages eco-friendly practices.

The impact of the initiative shines through in individual success stories. Rashmi Manjula of Dhorropani village, once a homemaker, now runs a flourishing micro-enterprise. Starting with training in snacks and namkeen making in 2019, Rashmi later invested in a sewing machine through an SHG loan. Today, she earns ₹5,000–8,000 per month, supports her family, and supplies nutritious food under the Mukhyamantri Sampoorna Pushti Yojana, serving adolescent girls. “Project SHAKTI gave me the courage to dream bigger for myself and my children,” she said.

Similarly, Kailashini Oram of Orampada village has turned mushroom cultivation and integrated farming into a profitable venture. Supported with training and market linkages, she now earns between ₹15,000 and ₹30,000 monthly, ensuring quality education for her children and a better standard of living for her family.

By fostering such entrepreneurial journeys, Aditya Aluminium is not only uplifting individual women but also creating community leaders who inspire others. The project continues to stand as a model of how corporate social responsibility can go beyond charity to build sustainable, self-reliant rural economies.