Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala has been adjudged the ‘Best Performer’ in the States’ Startup Ranking 2022 of the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry, in yet another testament to the coastal state’s conducive ecosystem for budding entrepreneurs.
Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal announced this in New Delhi while revealing the entire list of rankings on the occasion of National Startup Day.
The ‘Best Performer’ is the topmost startup ranking level, followed by the ‘Top Performer’ title, which was also won by Kerala earlier for the last three years for providing institutional support to startups, students and women entrepreneurs, besides providing nascent companies enormous opportunities to interact with investors through programmes such as IGNITE.
The state’s efforts to encourage startups involved in bringing about ambitious changes in the rural sector also enabled the southern state to win the laurel.
Commenting on the achievement, Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) CEO Shri Anoop Ambika said the state achieved the result following its committed measures towards sustaining a vibrant ecosystem and an incubation system backed by modern technology and policy support.
“We are implementing a comprehensive policy forgiving an impetus to the startups in the state. In 2002, Kerala had topped in all the seven sectors on which the Centre had called for reformation,” he recalled.
“The result today reflects the state government’s uncompromising attitude that made the path towards startup development obstruction-free.”
The areas where Kerala emerged the national topper were resource development, investment leadership, procurement leadership, sustainable development, incubation, mentorship services, innovation and best institution.
Of the 5,000 startups registered under KSUM, 250 have entered the market. More than a 100 of them are run by women entrepreneurs. The state has 50 incubators across its 14 districts. KSUM holds five awareness programmes annually for the state’s government employees and 15-plus projects to mobilise investments.
Kerala has more than 40 startups engaged in renewable energy, eco-sustainability, climate change and rural development.
KSUM, which was established in 2006 under the Kerala government, works for entrepreneurship development and incubation activities in the state.
