Support To Startup Ecosystems: Odisha Among Top 4 Performers; Excels In 3 Reform Areas Too

New Delhi: Odisha is among the four Top Performers among states in the rankings on Support to Startup Ecosystems, released by Minister of Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, and Textiles Piyush Goyal on Monday.

Jammu & Kashmir emerged as the Top Performer among union territories (UTs) and north-eastern (NE) states.

Odisha is also among the top-scoring states and UTs in three reform areas out of seven.

The state has been recognized as one of 9 Institutional Champions, one among six Procurement Forerunners and one among eight Capacity Building Pioneers.

Gujarat and Karnataka emerged as Best Performers among states, while Meghalaya won the top honour among UTs and NE States.

Following are top states in other categories:

Leaders — Assam, Punjab, Tamil Nādu, Uttarakhand & UP among states; Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh & Goa among UTs and NE states.

Aspiring Leaders — Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh & Rajasthan among states; Chandigarh, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu, Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland, Puducherry and Tripura among UTs and NE states.

Emerging Start-up Ecosystem — Andhra Pradesh & Bihar among states and Mizoram & Ladakh among UTs and NE states.

Goyal said after declaring the awards that ONDC (Open Network for Digital Commerce) had the power to spawn thousands of start-ups.

“The huge success that UPI has been in India, which has democratised the payment system in India. In the next 5 years, we will have ONDC democratize the e-commerce across India. So much so that we will have a few thousand start-ups may be more and a few hundred unicorns. Rather than three companies being 100 billion or one trillion size, you will have a thousand companies each of a billion dollar. That is what ONDC has the power to do,” Goyal said.

Secretary, DPIIT Anurag Jain said that a number of government initiatives like JAM (Jandhan, Aadhar, Mobile), Digital India, Gatishakti, Ease of Doing Business were driving the start-up ecosystem.

“If the start-up system has to grow further, the biggest role has to be played by states. We can play a facilitative role,” he added.