BHUBANESWAR : Odisha has emerged as a ‘top performer’ in Startup Ranking-2022, showing significant growth in the startup ecosystem and initiatives to nurture entrepreneurs.
The ranking was announced by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry at New Delhi on Tuesday. The state was evaluated across seven reform areas divided into 25 action points ranging from institutional support, fostering innovation and entrepreneurship, access to market, incubation support and funding support to capacity building of enablers and a roadmap to a sustainable future.
Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu were declared the ‘best performers’ while Odisha was adjudged as a ‘top performer’ along with Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan and Telangana among A category of states. The state secured a score of 100 percentile in the ‘funding support’ reform area, 89 each in institutional support and capacity building of enablers, 73 in access to market and 71 in fostering innovation and entrepreneurship.
However, the state’s performance was not up to the mark in incubation and mentorship support and the roadmap to a sustainable future reform areas where it scored only 44 and 25 respectively. The ministry has suggested the Odisha government to set up more incubators to guide young entrepreneurs, create a strong network of mentors and conduct cross-mentoring sessions besides announcing specific incentives for startups working in the field of sustainability, renewable energy, climate change and circular economy.
Executive chairman of Startup Odisha Omkar Rai said the state has launched several progressive initiatives for empowering young talents who aspire to become entrepreneurs.
“The startup environment will be more conducive with a new startup policy, which is under consideration aligning with global best practices and focusing on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors. Women led entrepreneurship will be given priority. Our goal is to inspire and support promising entrepreneurs on their journey,” he said.
Odisha was one of the first few states in the country to come up with a dedicated startup policy for startups. Startup Odisha has already supported and facilitated 1800 startups across agritech, IT, artificial intelligence, healthcare, fintech, and biotechnology sectors out of which 42 per cent are women led startups. It has 27 incubators now and intends to create a system that facilitates 5,000 startups by 2025.
Entrepreneurial boost
Odisha has scored 100 percentile in funding support reform
It scored 89 each in institutional support and capacity building of enablers
The state scored 73 in access and 71 in fostering innovation and entrepreneurship