Kerala has been recognised as the best performer in the fourth edition of the States’ Startup Ranking (2022) of the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry, announced in New Delhi on Tuesday.
According to Kerala Startup Mission CEO Anoop Ambika, the State was chosen as a top performer in the first three editions of the ranking, but the best performer ranking this year is an acknowledgement of its efforts towards developing a strong start-up ecosystem in the State.
The State has been ranked the best performer along with Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat. Nine States have been classified as emerging ecosystems. Some of the key factors pointed out for Kerala’s top ranking include institutional support to start-ups, students, and women entrepreneurs through knowledge dissemination.
During 2022, the period under consideration for the rankings, more than 1,700 start-ups were registered in the State. Out of these, 40 were working in the fields of renewable energy, sustainability and climate change.
The government provided support to over 100 women-led start-ups and offered market access to 240 start-ups. The State was lauded for novel initiatives like ‘IGNITE’, aimed at connecting start-ups to investors at the local level in every district. The government had also launched schemes and programmes for nurturing start-ups focussed on rural impact.
As per the report submitted by the State for consideration for the rankings, Kerala participated in all seven reform areas and 25 action points of the ranking framework. The State also scored the topmost percentile of 75 to 100 for all the seven reform areas of institutional support, fostering innovation and entrepreneurship, access to market, institution and mentorship support, funding support, capacity building of enablers and roadmap to a sustainable future.
The State also projected the updated Startup Policy of 2022, which offered a range of incentives and support mechanisms for start-ups, including dedicated fund for early-stage start-ups, tax breaks to mobilise private investors, streamlined and fast-track approvals for licences and approvals and the implementation of the Startup Procurement Policy to facilitate start-ups’ access to government contracts.
Kerala also focussed on development of sector-specific innovation hubs and clusters, such as the Aerospace and Defence Innovation Hub and Health Innovation Hub.
