Kerala ‘Top Performer’ in States’ Startup Ranking for 2019

For the second consecutive year, Kerala has bagged the “Top Performer” honour for developing a strong start-up ecosystem in the States’ Startup Ranking 2019, announced by the Centre. The ranking recognises Kerala as a leader across all pillars of the startup ecosystem.

While four states were adjudged as the top performers last year, only Kerala and Karnataka have been selected this year.

The ranking was declared in New Delhi in the presence of Railways and Commerce minister, Piyush Goyal, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Civil Aviation, Housing and Urban Affairs, Hardeep Singh Puri and Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Som Parkash.

According to the Centre, Kerala has taken several exemplary initiatives in establishing institutional support for women-led startups, including pre-incubation support, special subsidies and seed funding.

It is the Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM), the nodal agency for entrepreneurship development and incubation activities in the state, that has taken initiatives like robust venture funding mechanism for start-ups. The schemes are being implemented through KSUM.

Kerala and Karnataka have displayed visionary leadership and taken strategic initiatives to strengthen innovative entrepreneurship of the ecosystem, the Centre said.

These states have exhibited unwavering commitment to the growth of start-up ecosystems by taking dedicated and focussed initiatives across all pillars of start-ups ranking exercise, according to a press release.

It also recognised Dr Saji Gopinath, CEO Kerala Startup Mission and Ashok Kurian Panjikaran, Head, Business Development of KSUM, as “Startup Champions of the State.”

The States’ Startup Ranking Framework 2019, prepared by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, recognised Electronics and Information Technology Department of the state government as an institutional leader, regulatory change champion, procurement leader, incubation hub, seeding innovation leader, and scaling innovations leader.

The States’ Startup Ranking Framework 2019 was done across seven specific dimensions: Institutional Support, Easing Compliances, Relaxation in Public Procurement norms, Incubation Support, Seed Funding Support, Venture Funding Support, and Awareness and Outreach.

The key objective of the exercise is capacity building, and to further the spirit of entrepreneurship in the Indian Startup Ecosystem. The ‘State/UT Startup Ranking Framework’ 2019 is spread across seven areas of intervention with a total of 30 action points, as compared to the 38 action points in the Previous Year State Ranking Framework.

The framework provides the guidelines to support the implementation of action points along with good practices against each action point.