The latest rankings released by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade have shown that Gujarat, Arunachal Pradesh, and Goa have become the top achievers in developing a robust startup ecosystem. The evaluation monitors the support that the states and Union Territories give to new businesses. Since the ranking is a report of policy emphasis and implementation on the ground, we value it as a snapshot and indication of policy focus and performance. Gujarat took the first rank in the fifth year in a row, which highlights its persistent initiative in startup-friendly policies. The states of Arunachal Pradesh and Goa followed after Gujarat in the best performers list this year. Such improvement has been captured in their development in terms of better institutional assistance, availability of infrastructure, and sustained campaigns of attracting and developing early-stage businesses.
The best performer states are Karnataka, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, and Himachal Pradesh. These states have demonstrated a consistent improvement in several parameters relating to startup growth. The rankings constitute an annual exercise aimed at assessing how the local governments foster the environment of innovation and entrepreneurship. The last exercise saw thirty-four states/ Union Territories interested. They have been grouped into five categories, including the best-performing and the emerging startup ecosystems. To compare states and UTs fairly, they were also categorised by population size, and different evaluation tracks were considered in states with population size found to be above one crore and states with population size found to be below one crore.
This exercise will assist states in learning from each other through healthy competition. The framework, according to DPIIT, facilitates cross-regional cooperation in order to enhance the startup environment in India. In our view, this will assist the smaller states to use the tested models instead of beginning afresh. Some of the states were under the category of leaders, and these states included Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Telangana, Uttarakhand, Manipur, Meghalaya, and Nagaland. The rest – Assam, Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Odisha, and Tripura were branded as aspiring leaders, displaying room to make quick strides.
The assessment will entail six broad areas of reform and nineteen action points. These are policy assistance, physical and digital infrastructure, funding accessibility, connections in the market, capacity building, and innovation. The monotheistic system makes sure that the rankings are based on intent and implementation, and not policy pronouncements. Addressing an event hosted by Startup India, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal claimed that since 2016, the startup process in India has grown at a rapid pace. Registered startups have been rising to over two lakh since there were approximately four hundred registered startups. These projects have created approximately twenty-one lakh employment opportunities in the nation.
Goyal has reported that today, startups are active in over fifty sectors such as deep technologies, artificial intelligence, space technology, and clean energy. He also indicated that India has many countries willing to develop startup bridges. This increased international interest is a good sign to us that the Indian startup ecosystem is becoming an international force to reckon with.
