NEW DELHI:  In a bid to boost the startup ecosystem for aspiring entrepreneurs, the commerce and industry ministry will rank the states and UTs on Monday, according to an official statement released on Friday.

The last rankings were released in September 2020. Gujarat had kept the top spot at that time. 

Piyush Goyal, the minister of commerce and industry, will present the third iteration of the rating of states' support to startup ecosystems in New Delhi.

The exercise was launched by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) with the aim of promoting India's vision of cooperative and competitive federalism, the ministry said in the statement.

The initiative was started in 2018 to nudge states and union territories toward lowering barriers to startup growth and bolstering the ecosystem's support.

"A total of 24 states and 7 Union Territories participated in the exercise this year, up from 25 last year and the highest to date." The growth of entrepreneurship in Tier-II and Tier-III cities in the nation has become essential as India emerges as one of the world's leading startup nations, the ministry said.  It also noted that while there were only four states or UTs with startup policies in 2016 there are now over 30 states or UTs with startup policies, and 27 of those states or UTs have their own state startup portal.

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