Maharashtra among ‘Top Performer’ ; start up ranking of states announced
For the purpose of the Ranking, States and Union Territories are classified into 5 Categories, viz. Best Performers, Top Performers, Leaders, Aspiring Leaders and Emerging Start-up Ecosystems.
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The participants 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. The exercise plays a crucial role in easing the business environment for start-ups in the country.
Gujarat and Karnataka adjudged Best Performers
“There is a great opportunity to democratize the start-up ecosystem” – Commerce & Industry Minister Piyush Goyal
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.
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Maharashtra, which was classified in the ‘Leaders’ category in the 2020 Rankings, has improved its position and felicitated as a ‘Top Performer’ State along with Telangana, Kerala and Odisha.
The results of the third edition of Ranking of States on Support to Startup Ecosystems were released by the Minister of Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal in New Delhi today.
With a network of more than 12,000 registered start-ups, Maharashtra has established a robust ecosystem for start-ups in the State. The State has been actively supporting start-ups in disruptive sectors by introducing and amending policies. It formulated the Maharashtra State Innovative Start-up Policy in 2018 which has facilitated the development of the start-up ecosystem in Maharashtra. The Policy aims to drive economic growth and job creation in the coming years by encouraging entrepreneurs to design novel solutions in new-age sectors such as Biotechnology, AI, Internet of Things (IoT), and Clean energy. The state’s Electric Vehicles Policy 2021, has been acknowledged as one of the key disruptive policy initiatives.
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Speaking after declaring the awards, Piyush Goyal said the Indian Start-up ecosystem could become the best in the world. The Minister suggested that there was a need 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. He emphasized upon the need 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.
Goyal further said that ONDC (Open Network for Digital Commerce) had the power to spawn thousands of start-ups. “The huge success that UPI has been in India, which has democratised the payment system in India. In the next 5 year, we will have ONDC democratize the e-commerce across India. So much so that we will have a few thousand start-ups may be more and a few hundred unicorns. The minister appreciated the new mentorship program and said that it would help those with ideas to get support and help them fructify their ideas.
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Anurag Jain, Secretary, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade said that a number of initiatives of the government including JAM (Jandhan, Aadhar, Mobile), Digital India, Gatishakti, Ease of Doing Business were driving the start-up ecosystem.
About the State Start-up Ranking exercise
The DPIIT 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 this edition, the highest till date. The State Start-up Ranking Exercise aims to support states and union territories in developing their start-up ecosystem and learn from the best practices in each state and union territory.
The felicitation ceremony was accompanied by the release of the National Report which highlights the vision, framework, evolution across the years, methodology and implementation, and the way ahead for the States` Startup Ranking. 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.
The National Report and Specific Reports for all participating States and Union Territories launched during the session can be downloaded from the Startup India Portal. The complete results are attached at Annexure 1.
Annexure 1
States Startup Ranking Results 2021
(All results in alphabetical order.)
Category A
| Category | State |
| Best Performer | Gujarat |
| Karnataka | |
| Top Performers | Kerala |
| Maharashtra | |
| Odisha | |
| Telangana | |
| Leaders | Assam |
| Punjab | |
| Tamil Nadu | |
| Uttarakhand | |
| Uttar Pradesh | |
| Aspiring Leaders | Chhattisgarh |
| Delhi | |
| Madhya Pradesh | |
| Rajasthan | |
| Emerging Startup Ecosystems | Andhra Pradesh |
| Bihar |
This category has all States except those in Category ‘B’. This includes states with a population less than 1 crore.
Category B
| Category | State |
| Best Performer | Meghalaya |
| Top Performer | Jammu and Kashmir |
| Leader | Andaman and Nicobar Islands |
| Arunachal Pradesh | |
| Goa | |
| Aspiring Leader | Chandigarh |
| Dadra and Nagar Haveli & Daman and Diu | |
| Himachal Pradesh | |
| Manipur | |
| Nagaland | |
| Puducherry | |
| Tripura | |
| Emerging Startup Ecosystems | Mizoram |
| Ladakh |
This category has all Union Territories except NCT of Delhi and all North-Eastern states except Assam.
Leaders across 7 Reform Areas
The top scoring States and Union Territories across each reform area have been recognised as a leader.
| S. No | Pillar | Leader Names |
| 1. | Institutional Champion | GujaratKarnatakaKeralaMaharashtraOdishaTelanganaUttarakhandTamil NaduAndaman and Nicobar Islands |
| 2. | Innovative Leader | KarnatakaMaharashtraTelanganaJammu and Kashmir |
| 3. | Procurement Forerunner | GujaratKarnatakaKeralaOdishaHimachal PradeshMeghalaya |
| 4. | Incubation Hub | GujaratTelanganaJammu and Kashmir |
| 5. | Funding Leader | GujaratKarnataka |
| 6. | Mentorship Champion | AssamMeghalaya |
| 7. | Capacity Building Pioneer | GujaratKarnatakaKeralaMaharashtraOdishaTelanganaUttarakhandMeghalaya |
