Gujarat trumps Karnataka to be best startup performer

Gujarat has outranked Karnataka, which houses the tech hub of Bengaluru, to become the best performer in the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion’s maiden startup rankings for states.

The department released a National Report on States’ Startup Ranking for 2018 on Thursday after a two-year study of 27 states and three Union Territories, according to a government statement.

Karnataka, Kerala, Odisha and Rajasthan were classified as top performers while Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana were ranked as leaders.

Haryana, which houses Gurugram, and Uttar Pradesh, which includes Noida, were among the five ‘aspiring leaders’. The list of emerging states included Assam, Delhi, Goa, Jammu & Kashmir, Maharashtra, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Uttarakhand.

The study was based on multiple parameters which involved getting feedback from beneficiaries. The states were evaluated by independent experts from the startup ecosystem.

As part of the study, 51 officers from these states and UTs were identified as ‘champions’ who have contributed significantly towards developing their state’s startup ecosystem. 

DIPP secretary Ramesh Abhishek said startups, with their innovative ideas, can solve social, agricultural and service sector problems of the country.