MANISH GUPTA
Ranchi, July 2: Jharkhand is once again gearing up to join the race of startups in India with its next, more ambitious Startup Policy entering the final stages of approval, and it is likely to be out before the end of this month.
Speaking to lagatar24.com, Jharkhand Information Technology Secretary Kripa Nand Jha said, “The new Jharkhand Startup Policy is almost ready for launch. We have the approval of the Chief Minister, who is also the IT Minister, and we are getting the legal opinion. It should be announced within a month.”
Jha said that the new policy has been drafted after taking into consideration all major stakeholders’ views and after studying the best startup policies in the country. It is a set of very positive guidelines and incentives, and is a much more ambitious policy than the earlier one, the IT Secretary said.
Jharkhand was one of the pioneers in the country to join the startup bandwagon. It was one of the four states that came out with its startup policy in 2016, but has fallen behind in the last couple of years during the pandemic and has lost some of the advantages it gained in the early years by being one of the first movers.
“There were about 300 startups in the state in 2019 and many did get their initial funding to take care of basic needs like computers. But most of them are not active anymore. The Atal Bihari Vajpayee Innovation Lab, which was initiated by the state IT department to implement the startup policy, had no CEO for one-and-a-half years. Just a few months back it got the IT Director as its new CEO,” said an official on condition of anonymity.
This does not bode well for Jharkhand in the all India ranking that is to be out on July 4. Results of the 3rd edition of Ranking of States’ on Support to Startup Ecosystems will be released by Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Monday in a felicitation ceremony in New Delhi.
The ranking exercise was launched in 2018 by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) in the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry to encourage states and Union Territories to work towards easing regulations for the growth of startups and strengthening the support to the startup ecosystem.
“There were 4 states/ UTs with startup policies in 2016. Today, there are over 30 states/ UTs who have startup policies, and 27 states/ UTs have their own state startup portal,” the Union Commerce Ministry said in a statement on Friday.
While the Jharkhand Startup Policy of 2016 expired in September 2021, the state has now renewed its commitment to provide a fertile environment for the growth of startups. For this, the state government is planning collaboration with XLRI Xavier School of Management in Jamshedpur.
“Even as we work on finalising the new startup policy, we are in a dialogue with XLRI Jamshedpur for an MoU, which may happen in the next fortnight. Under the agreement, XLRI will help create a favourable ecosystem for startups in the state,” Jharkhand IT Secretary Jha said.
