Gujarat emerges as the best place for start-ups

Four states - Karantaka, Kerala, Odisha and Rajasthan - were in the top performers’ category.

Illustration: Uttam Ghosh/Rediff.com

Gujarat has emerged as the best performer in developing start-up ecosystem for budding entrepreneurs, according to the ranking of states done by the department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP).

In the ranking process, states have been identified as leaders across various categories such as start-up policy, incubation hubs, seeding innovation, scaling innovation, regulatory change champions, procurement leaders, and communication champions.

On the basis of performance in these categories, states have been recognised as best performer, top performers, leaders, aspiring leaders, emerging states and beginners.

While Gujarat was the best performer, four states - Karantaka, Kerala, Odisha and Rajasthan - were there in the top performers’ category.

Similarly, five states - Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, and Telangana - were ranked as leaders.

Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal were ranked as aspiring leaders, and eight states like Assam, Delhi, and Goa were termed emerging states.

The beginners’ category states include Chandigarh, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Puducherry, Sikkim, and Tripura.

"This exercise will help all the states to improve the ecosystem for promoting startups," DIPP secretary Ramesh Abhishek said on Thursday.

He said that in some areas like providing online information, simplifying regulations, preference in public procurement and setting up venture funds, states needs special focus.

The secretary added that the idea of ranking the states and union territories was not to "embarrass" anyone, but to encourage them to take steps to promote budding entrepreneurs.

He said that the entire exercise was conducted for capacity development.

As many as 22 states have so far formulated their respective start-up policies.

A total of 27 states and three union territories participated in the exercise.

The ranking framework covers seven areas of intervention and 38 action points, including policy support, incubation centres, seed funding, angel and venture funding and easier regulations.

The government launched Start-up India Action Plan in January to promote budding entrepreneurs in the country.

The plan aims to give incentives such as tax holiday and inspector raj-free regime and capital gains tax exemption.