Gujarat and Karnataka adjudged Best Performers among states; Meghalaya is the Best Performers among UTs and North-Eastern States.

The results of the third edition of Ranking of States on Support to Start-up Ecosystems were released by Shri Piyush Goyal, Minister of Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, and Textiles on 4 July 2022.

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has been conducting the States’ Start-up Ranking Exercise since 2018 to facilitate the ease of doing business and building a start-up ecosystem of across the country. The exercise has grown in its impact over the last three editions, with 31 participating states and union territories in this edition, the highest till date. The State Start-up Ranking Exercise aims to support states and union territories in developing their start-up ecosystem and learn from the best practices in each state and union territory.

The period under consideration for the third edition of the States Start-up Ranking Exercise was 1st October 2019 to 31st July 2021. The documentary evidence submitted was evaluated over a 6-month duration. The Evaluation Committee assessed each document in detail. The Evaluation Committee comprises of representatives from 19 government departments and 29 non-government start-up ecosystem stakeholders, for fair and transparent evaluation.

Participating States and UTs were evaluated across 7 broad Reform Areas consisting of 26 Action Points. The broad reform areas are Institutional Support, Fostering Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Access to Market, Incubation support, Funding Support, Mentorship Support and Capacity Building of Enablers. The exercise plays a crucial role in easing the business environment for start-ups in the country.

The States Start-up Ranking 2021 highlighted the support being extended by the 31 states and union territories through start-up policies to the ecosystem. There were only 4 states with start-up policies prior to 2016. The state start-up teams have been extending support across mentorship, incubation and funding. Feedback was gathered from more than 7,000 beneficiaries through surveys made in 13 different languages to grasp the real situation at the level of beneficiaries.

For the purposes of the Ranking, States and Union Territories are classified into 5 Categories, viz. Best Performers, Top Performers, Leaders, Aspiring Leaders and Emerging Start-up Ecosystems.

Gujarat and Karnataka emerged as the Best Performers in a category of States which included NCT of Delhi. Meghalaya won the top honour among UTs and North-eastern (NE) States. 

While Kerala, Maharashtra, Orissa and Telangana won the Top Performers award among states, Jammu & Kashmir emerged as the Top Performer among UTs and NE states.

Assam, Punjab, Tamil Nādu, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh were adjudged the winners in the Leaders category among states; 

Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh and Goa bagged the Leaders honour among the UTs and NE states. 

Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan were declared as Aspiring Leaders among the States. 

Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli & Daman and Diu, Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland, Puducherry and Tripura were the Aspiring Leaders from the UTs and NE states. 

Andhra Pradesh and Bihar from States category and Mizoram and Ladakh from the UTs/NE States were clubbed under the Emerging Start-up Ecosystem.

After declaring the awards, Shri Piyush Goyal said that the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) had the power to spawn thousands of start-ups. The success of UPI in India has democratised the payment system in India. In the next 5 years, ONDC could democratize e-commerce across India resulting in a few thousand start-ups and a few hundred unicorns in India, according to Shri Piyush Goyal. “Rather than three companies being 100 billion or one trillion size, you will have a thousand companies each of a billion dollar. That is what ONDC has the power to do,” the Minister said.

Emphasizing that Indian ecosystem could become the best, Shri Goyal suggested that States should align with neighbouring ones to learn from each other. He also asked the department to get more start-ups on the Government E-Marketplace (GeM), as Services have now been brought under GeM.

The Minister felt there was a need to focus on developing a start-up ecosystem in districts with support from all the start-up related schemes of the Central and the State governments. He emphasized the need to on-board and register more start-ups. He added that there was a great opportunity to democratize the start-up ecosystem in the same way as the Indian Premier League (IPL) democratized the cricket arena.

The minister appreciated the new mentorship program and said that it would help those with ideas to get support and help them fructify their ideas.

A number of initiatives of the government including JAM (Jandhan, Aadhar, Mobile), Digital India, Gatishakti, and Ease of Doing Business were driving the start-up ecosystem, according to the Secretary, DPIIT. “If the Start-up system has to grow further, the biggest role has to be played by States. We can play a facilitative role,” he added.

The new coaching/mentoring programme Mentorship, Advisory, Assistance, Resilience and Growth (MAARG) would focus on creating profitable start-ups, improving their corporate governance, scaling up their operations, addressing funding gaps and building their brand. Shri Manoj Kohli, Member, National Start-up Advisory Council said this would improve their success rate.

The call for mentors for MAARG portal was also announced during the event. The portal has been developed with the objective of developing a tool for start-ups in India that can be accessed from every corner of the country to request and connect with a mentor.

Smt. Shruti Singh, Joint Secretary, DPIIT said that the start-up ecosystem has come a long way with States playing a big role. “Today, States have vibrant ecosystem with 27 states having their portals in regional languages,” she added.