2021 start-up ranking: Gujarat, Karnataka emerges as best performers

Gujarat and Karnataka emerged the “best performers” in the third edition of States’ Start-up ranking, 2021, while Meghalaya bagged the top honour among Northeastern (NE) states. 

In the second edition of the survey, which was conducted in 2020, Gujarat was the best performer.

States and UTs with a population of more than 10 million are ranked separately from those with a lower population.

UTs and states are classified into five categories based on their performance in the survey. They are best performers, top performers, leaders, aspiring leaders and emerging start-up ecosystems.

Top performers among the larger states include Kerala, Maharashtra, Odisha and Telangana.

Among smaller states and UTs, Jammu and Kashmir was adjudged the top performer.

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has been conducting the States’ Start-up Ranking exercise since 2018 with the exception of last year due to the pandemic.

This exercise facilitates states on the basis of ease of building a start-up and doing business. The consideration period for the third edition ranking exercise was October 1, 2019 to July 31, 2021.

The documentary evidence submitted was evaluated over a six-month duration. The evaluation committee — across 14 meetings — assessed each document for fair and transparent evaluation. It was composed of representatives from 19 government departments and 29 start-up ecosystem stakeholders, a statement from DPIIT said.
 

The participants were evaluated across seven broad reform parameters. It comprised 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. 

Feedback was also taken from more than 7,000 beneficiaries through surveys made in 13 different languages to grasp the real situation at the execution level.

Trade minister Piyush Goyal said India now has the third largest start-up ecosystem in the world with over 71,000 recognised start-ups and more than 100 unicorns.

“Indian start-ups have raised over $42 billion in funding in the 2021 calendar year. This momentum continued in 2022, with start-ups raising over $11 billion in the first quarter,” he added.

Goyal said the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) has the power to spawn thousands of start-ups.

“In the next five years, we will have ONDC democratise e-commerce across India,” the minister said.

DPIIT secretary Anurag Jain said the 2021 ranking exercise evolved to focus more on implementation and grassroots impact of policies.

“The initiatives undertaken and their impact reported in this exercise are testimony of the on-ground efforts being executed. Twenty-seven states and UTs have a dedicated online portal for start-up ecosystems in vernacular languages. Forty government-backed seed, venture or fund of funds have been established. Capacity building of more than 350 state-supported incubators has been undertaken,” he added.

The call for mentors for the Mentorship, Advisory, Assistance, Resilience and Growth (MAARG) portal was also announced during the event. The portal has been developed with the idea to create a tool for start-ups in India. It can be accessed from every corner of the country for requesting and connecting with a mentor.

Manoj Kohli, member of the National Start-up Advisory Council said MAARG would focus on creating profitable start-ups. It would also improve their corporate governance, scale up their operations, address funding gaps and build their brand.