Gujarat Moving Up In Global Innovation Index

Source: Ahmedabad Mirror

The start-up ecosystem in the country is being fueled further by policy changes, single window approvals, funds dissemination and other important measures helping the country achieve its dream of Atmanirbhar Bharat and Viksit Bharat 2047, said experts at the seminar on Start-ups as part of the VGGS 2024.

The seminar ‘Start-ups: Unlocking the infinite potential’ organised by the Industries Commissionerate of Gujarat saw CEO of iCreate Avinash Punekar highlighting the changes in the start-up ecosystem in Gujarat 

“The state was the first to come up with a policy for start-ups that was not only organised but took an all-around holistic approach towards them. The policy supported entrepreneurs from schools, colleges and even those that were experienced,” Punekar said.

He said Gujarat has now started climbing up in the Global Innovation Index but a lot of change needs to take place, to continue the upward movement.

Vice-President and Engineering Fellow at Google, USA, Jay Yagnik stressed responsible innovation practices from the ground up and amplifying human potential in ways no one has ever seen before.

The Secretary, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India, IAS Rajesh Kumar Singh during his speech walked down memory lane of how DPIIT started the Start-up India Mission in 2016 which helped develop the ecosystem that benefits Start-ups.

“From 300 to over 1 lakh Start-ups now, Gujarat is the third largest Start-up ecosystem in the world and is the world leader in terms of new Start-up registrations, every day. It thus generates 12.2 lakh direct jobs,” said Singh.

He said DPIIT created an ecosystem to foster Start-ups with a fund of Rs10,000 crore through which 129 alternative investment funds are used to channelize money to eligible Start-ups. “Out of this over Rs 17,000 crore has been committed so far to 915 start-ups,” he said.