Startups in full gear in Northeast

The States’ Startup Ranking 2021 released by the Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has brought cheers for Assam as it places the state among the “Leaders” states and union territories, moving up from the category of “Emerging Startup Ecosystems” in 2019. The new and improved ranking for Assam implies that the state has been continuously working towards building an effective startup ecosystem which is good news. The rankings have also set the benchmark for Assam and other states for moving up to the top two categories – Best Performers and Top performers.

Gujarat has been ranked in the topmost category – Best Performer for the third consecutive term while Karnataka has also moved up to this category this time. Kerala also continued to be ranked in the Top Performer category this time, and it shares the ranking with Maharashtra, Odisha and Telangana. DPITT has ranked those states in this category which have shown significant growth in respective startup ecosystems and have established initiatives to nurture the entrepreneurs of the State.

Among the states in the Northeast, while Assam was included in category A states with a population of more than one crore, the other seven states were clubbed in category B states with a population of less than one crore. Meghalaya has been ranked in the “Best Performer” category among category B states while Arunachal Pradesh is ranked in the “Leaders” category which also indicates about positive startup ecosystem taking shape in the Northeast region and opportunities for growth of new ideas, business ventures and employment it has brought to the region. The report presents an encouraging picture of the significant growth of Startups in the country over the past seven years and brings to light that from 2015 the Indian Startup has grown into the third-largest Startup ecosystem in the world registering nine times increase in the number of investors, seven times increase in total funding of Startups and seven times increase in several incubators.

The Startup India Action Plan Launched in 2016 provided the push for boosting innovation and entrepreneurship in the country. Altogether 67128 Startups in 30 states covering 643 districts registered with DPIIT have created over 7. 20 lakh employment with an average of 11 employment by each Startup which is indicative of the huge employment potential of the Startup ecosystem.

About 49% of these Startups are from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities pointing towards much-needed decentralized growth of new ideas, innovation and entrepreneurship. Another key finding from the 2021 ranking and results is that 47% of Startups are with women directors with a total of 37,506 directors being women which speaks volumes about the equal opportunities in the Startup ecosystem for women. This has demolished the perception that entrepreneurship is a domain for males and has also helped women entrepreneurs break the glass ceiling.

Assam has figured among the top five states in “Incubation” support to Startups and ranked in the “Leaders” along with Gujarat, Telangana, Karnataka and Uttarakhand in category A states. Meghalaya has become “Leader” along with Jammu and Kashmir on this action point for category B states. The report states that “Incubation support” seeks to assess the State-supported incubation and acceleration programs that are important for the growth of the Startup ecosystem.

To enhance the incubation infrastructure, the state/union territory governments have been setting up new facilities or upgrading existing facilities, through funds or incentives. The support provided to the incubators through programs and incentives will in turn help Startups in scaling up and contribute to the growth of the startup ecosystem, it adds. Four broad pillars of the Startup India programme include institutional support, infrastructural support, funding support and access to the market.

Once an entrepreneurship idea crystalyses and incubation and mentorship are completed, funding support becomes crucial for the viability of a Startup. The report highlights that in terms of the total funding raised by the Startups in India, there has been an impressive eight times growth from Rs 40,000 crore in 2014 to more than Rs 3. 7 lakh crore in 2021 and this is a huge motivation factor for new Startups to stay focussed on their entrepreneurship venture.

India’s “Act East” and “Neighbourhood First” policies have helped deepened bilateral and multilateral relations with Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, and ASEAN countries for trade, commerce and people-to-people exchanges. This access to vibrant and next-door markets coupled with the creation of a robust Startup ecosystem can unlock huge opportunities for entrepreneurship in the northeast region. Improving the access to the internet in the region is crucial for the new and existing Startups to get quick and easy access to information, funding and marketing linkage and state governments need to push e-offices in all government departments to create an enabling ecosystem.

What the region needs to harness this potential is innovative ideas and young men and women taking the lead in deriving maximum benefits of incubation and mentorship of Startup India and initiatives in different states. .