Kerala titled “Top Performer” in State’s Start-up Rankings

NEW DELHI: Government of India released the Start-up Rankings in the presence of Piyush Goel, Minister of Railways and Commerce; Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs; and Som Prakash, Minister of State for Ministry of Commerce and Industry. Kerala, along with Karnataka, was recognised as the “Top Performer” for having a sound and strong start-up environment. The state won the title second time in a row and is recognised as the leader in all the fields of innovation. Gujarat, in the ‘states’ category, and Andaman and Nicobar Islands, in the ‘Union Territories’ category, were the given the award for the “Best Performers”.

The State’s Start-up Ranking Framework, developed by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, recognised the Electronics and Information Technology Department of the Government of Kerala as the institutional guide, regulatory change champion, procurement leader, incubation hub and scaling innovation leader. The Ranking Framework assesses the states across seven fields viz., Institutional Support, Easing Compliances, relaxation in Public Procurement Norms, Incubation Support, Seed Funding Support, Venture Funding Support, and Awareness and Outreach.

Dr Saji Gopinath, CEO, Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) and Ashok Kurian Panjikaran, Head, Business Development of KSUM, are recognised as “Start-up Champions of the State.” Kerala has designed extra-ordinary initiatives for the encouragement of women led start-ups such as seed funding, institutional grants, subsidies, etc. The rating framework aims to analyse the innovation ecosystem and start-up culture across various states in a balanced and transparent manner. The scoring is done on the basis of the feedback received by the stake holders. The key objective is to help states in capacity building and to improve the environment of entrepreneurship in the Indian start-up ecosystem.