STATES STARTUP RANKING

Why in news? : The results of the third edition of Ranking of States on Support to Startup Ecosystems were released by the Minister of Commerce and Industry. The exercise plays a crucial role in easing the business environment for start-ups in the country.

Aim of this exercise: to support states and union territories in developing their start-up ecosystem and learn from the best practices in each state and union territory.

What are the reform areas? : States are evaluated across 7 broad Reform Areas consisting of 26 Action Points ranging from Institutional Support, Fostering Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Access to Market, Incubation support, Funding Support, Mentorship Support to Capacity Building of Enablers.

Top Performers: 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.

Need of this initiative:  To focus on developing start-up ecosystem in districts with help of all the start-up related schemes by the central and the state government. To onboard and register more start-ups and added that there was a great opportunity to democratize the start-up ecosystem in the same way as IPL has democratized the cricket arena.

Role of ONDC: ONDC (Open Network for Digital Commerce) had the power to spawn thousands of start-ups. “The huge success that UPI has been in India has democratized the payment system in India. In the next 5 year, ONDC will democratize the e-commerce across India. It would help those with ideas to get support and help them fructify their ideas.

Implementing Agency:  DPIIT (The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade )has been conducting the States’ Start-up Ranking Exercise since 2018 to facilitate the ease of building a start-up and doing business across the country. The exercise has grown in its impact over the last three editions, with 31 participating states and union territories. 

A State Specific Report for each of the 31 participating States and Union Territories has also been released, containing an extensive analysis of respective ecosystem, which highlights strengths and priority areas for future.