GUWAHATI, July 7 (PTI): Assam has been recognised as a ‘leader’ in Category A states (population over 1 crore) in developing a strong start-up ecosystem by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) which functions under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
This is steep progress from its previous recognition of being an Emerging Start-up Ecosystem, Assam Start-up’s chief operating officer Pranjal Konwar said.
The DPIIT has appreciated the state for facilitating the launch of the state-of-the-art incubator, ‘Assam Start-up – the Nest’, providing incentives and financial help to women entrepreneurs and conducting a high number of outreach programmes with key ecosystem players, he said.
The incubator has gained special recognition as a Mentorship Champion for building a large mentorship network for start-ups, Konwar said.
IIM Calcutta Innovation Park has been engaged in nurturing the start-up ecosystem in the state since September 2018, while the Assam government’s Department of Industries, Commerce and Public Enterprise, has asked the B-School incubator to drive the Assam Start-up initiative as a Knowledge Partner.
The states’ start-up ranking 2021 was released by Commerce and Industry minister Piyush Goyal in New Delhi.
A total of 24 states and 7 Union territories (UTs) participated in the exercise, which ranked them under five categories — best performers, top performers, leaders, aspiring leaders and emerging startup ecosystems.
The report grades a state based on 26 action points such as funding, mentorship, institutional support and enabling the enablers.
In the North-eastern region, Meghalaya has been recognised as the Best Performer in Category B (a population under 1 crore), while Arunachal Pradesh has been dubbed as a Leader in the same category.
