THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala’s sustained efforts towards developing a strong startup ecosystem were rewarded on Monday as it retained its spot in the ‘Top Performers’ list in the States’ Startup Ranking 2021 of the Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) under the Union ministry of commerce and industry.
Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal released the rankings in New Delhi on Monday. Kerala had figured in the ‘Top Performers’ category in the 2019 rankings too alongside Karnataka. In the latest report, four more states — Telangana, Maharashtra, Odisha and Jammu & Kashmir — figure in the category with Kerala, while Karnataka is placed in the ‘Best Performer’ category.
The DPIIT said Kerala had taken some praiseworthy initiatives in the startup sector such as providing institutional support to startups through knowledge dissemination in regional languages, developing Kerala Startup Mission Digital Hub as a one-stop facility for all product design and development activities and also supporting government departments in the form of capacity building programmes and building tailored incentives and schemes. It recognised Kerala as an institution champion, a capacity building pioneer and a procurement forerunner. It also appreciated the state for running 20 startups led by woman entrepreneurs.
John M Thomas, CEO of Kerala IT parks and Kerala Startup Mission, told TNIE that the Kerala startup ecosystem had benefited from startups, the state government, private sector and enthusiastic individuals working together for innovation driven social progress.
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■ The latest ranking recognises the efforts of the states and union territories from October 1, 2019 to July 31, 2021. The framework was launched in 2018
■ The timelines have been created keeping in mind the impact of Covid. Thus it provides a longer span of time to evaluate the efforts of states Kerala 15th in ease of doing business index