UP to participate in Centre’s start-up ranking of states

Having announced its first ever start-up policy with a corpus of Rs 1000 crore to fund business ideas with promise, the Uttar Pradesh (UP) government is all set to participate in the first ever national start-up ranking of the states launched by the centre’s department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP).

As part of the ranking, each state would be required to fill a 38 point questionnaire that would form the basis on which states would be ranked and which would determine the seriousness of the states in ushering in entrepreneurial culture.

March 31 is the last date by which states can express their willingness to participate in the rankings that will quiz the states on their response implementation of start-up policy, incubation and seed and venture funding support. After evaluation and stakeholder feedback exercise in April, the rankings will be released in May.

Speaking on the sidelines of the UP Investors’ Meet here on Thursday, Sanjeev Sharan, UP’s additional chief secretary, IT and electronics, said,“We are working towards being ranked the country’s number one state on the basis of start-up policy.”

“The rankings will usher in a model of competitive yet cooperative federalism: competitive because the idea is to get the states to engage in healthy competition and cooperation because we are sharing the best practices of each states’ startup policy,” said Anil Agarwal, joint secretary in the centre’s DIPP.

UP’s minister of state for IT Mohsin Raza said the government had set aside Rs 1000 crore for funding start-ups. “We are also going to organise a start-up fair every quarter in which start -ups would be invited to offer innovative solutions for problems faced by the state. The idea is to involve students and entrepreneurs in the development process of the state and to ignite the entrepreneurial spirit,” he said.

The selected start-ups will be awarded UP Aavishkaar Puruskar along with funding of up to Rs 50 lakh to implement the solutions.

Agarwal, a bureaucrat from UP on deputation to the centre, said the DIPP was willing to assist the state provide detailed support. “Prime Minister Modiji wants a start-up in every district and block of the country. The rankings are expected to cajole the governments to push ahead with the start-up culture,” he said.

In 2014, just four states of the country had a start-up policy as against 18 at present. Officials say the remaining states will also be encouraged to have a startup policy.

Saurabh Srivastava, co-founder and director of Indian Angel Network suggested that the state government should consider setting up an advisory board comprising professionals to suggest how to accelerate creation of an ecosystem that is conducive to ease of doing business.

Professor BV Phani of IIT Kanpur, who was in Lucknow to participate in the UP investors’ summit, said, “UP has the capacity to become the start-up capital of the world.”