Nagaland an ‘Aspiring Leader’ on support to Startup

Morung Express News
Dimapur | September 11

The State of Nagaland has been designated an “Aspiring Leader” on support to the Startup Ecosystems in the second edition of “States’ Startup Ranking 2019.” 

The  'Ranking of States on Support to Startup Ecosystems' was released by Minister of Commerce & Industry and Railways Piyush Goyal today, through a virtual felicitation ceremony in New Delhi. A total of 22 States and 3 Union Territories (UTS) participated in the exercise. 

The ranking was classified into 5 Categories: Best Performers, Top Performers, Leaders, Aspiring Leaders and Emerging Startup Ecosystems. 

To establish uniformity and ensure standardisation, States and UTs have been divided into two groups.

While Union Territories (UTs) except Delhi and all States in North East India except Assam were placed in Category ‘Y’, all other States and UTs of Delhi were placed in Category ‘X’.

In 2018, Nagaland was ranked as ‘Beginner,’ a category discontinued in 2019.   

In the ‘X’ category, Gujarat was ranked best performer while Karnataka and Kerala were top performers. 

In ‘Y’ category, the best performer was Andaman and Nicobar Islands while Chandigarh was the leader and Nagaland the ‘Aspiring Leader.’ Mizoram and Sikkim were slotted as ‘Emerging Startup Ecosystems’ while the rest did not participate. 

‘Aspiring Leaders’ are those State or UTs with more than 10 and less than 30 percentile score out of possible 100, the ranking report informed. 

The category recognises the States/UTs which have exhibited a performance worth acknowledging in select pillars of the ranking framework and are at advance stages of implementation of their Startup policy objectives, according to official document of the ranking.

“They have well-established support structures for Startups and have been consistently refining the delivery and communication infrastructure to enable these Startups to compete at a global scale,” it said. 

According to State’s specific report of the ranking, Nagaland have taken some “praiseworthy initiatives” including a startup policy with strong provisions for seed funding and Nagaland Innovation Fund (NIF) in partnership with leading national and international investors wherein the state actively invests with matching capital in select venture capitalists (VCs). 

According to an official statement, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) conducted the second edition with the key objective to foster competitiveness and propel States and Union Territories to work proactively towards uplifting the startup ecosystem. 

The ranking was conducted with 7 broad reform area, consisting of 30 action points ranging from Institutional Support, Easing Compliances, Relaxation in Public Procurement norms, Incubation support, Seed Funding Support, Venture Funding Support, and Awareness & Outreach.

The Minister of State for Commerce & Industry & Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Civil Aviation, Housing and Urban Affairs, Hardeep Singh Puri and Minister of State for Commerce & Industry Som Parkash, were also present at the virtual felicitation ceremony of the second edition of 'Ranking of States on Support to Startup Ecosystems.'