By Smita Agarwal
Chairperson – CII Uttar Pradesh State Council
Director & CFO – PTC Industries Limited
Lucknow: Over the years, Startup India initiative has turned into a beacon of hope and opportunity, igniting innovation, creating jobs, and transforming the entrepreneurial landscape. Among the states that have significantly benefited from this initiative, Uttar Pradesh stands out as a prime example of how thoughtful policy implementation can drive regional growth and transformation.
Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state in India, has traditionally been an agricultural and industrial hub. The State has, however, faced challenges in terms of unemployment, limited industrial diversification, and rural-urban disparities.
Over the years, the State’s various policies have provided much needed impetus for overall development of the State. As a result, Uttar Pradesh is recognised as the country’s 3rd largest economy growing at a rate of 7% (CAGR FY 2016-2020) and contributing about 8% to India’s GDP.
Amongst various initiatives taken by the Government of Uttar Pradesh, the Uttar Pradesh Startup Policy2020 (as amended in 2022) has created multiplier effects in developing an ecosystem of entrepreneurship in the State.
The state announced its first startup policy “IT & Startup Policy 2016” to promote the spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship which was later amended as “IT & Startup Policy 2017”.
However, one more revision of the policy became essential due to introduction of State’s Startup Ranking Framework by Government of India and the commitment of Government of Uttar Pradesh to promote the policy at the grassroot level by integrating state government schemes such as Yuva Hub, Innovation Hub and the Largest Incubator in Lucknow. Therefore, the state Government launched a new Startup Policy 2020 (as amended in 2022) to make it more holistic and beneficial for the Youth of the state.
This policy also aimed to broad base the coverage of the policy seeking greater collaboration amongst state government departments, technical and higher education institutes, etc.
Through this policy, the State Government is working towards inculcating the culture of entrepreneurship at school level itself in order to make students learn virtues of entrepreneurship during early years of their education. This initiative will not only elevate the student learning to a new level but also help in creating entrepreneurs of the future. Despite being India’s most populous state, Uttar Pradesh has witnessed a remarkable transformation in recent years by providing the most suitable environment for Startups to flourish.
The new Policy aims to build a holistic startup and entrepreneurial ecosystem in the state by supporting the establishment of Tinkering Labs in Schools, E-Cells in colleges, Incubators in institutes of higher learning and Centers of Excellence to promote research & development in the areas of emerging technologies etc.
The policy offers various incentives, subsidies, and support measures, including capital grants, sustenance allowances, prototype grants, and reimbursement for patent filing. With continuous financial support and a dedicated Startup Policy, Uttar Pradesh is all set to become a $1 trillion economy and the Startup ecosystem of the state will further catalyse in transforming this vision into a reality.
With a conducive environment for business and the presence of various incubation Centres, CoEs and government support, Uttar Pradesh has evolved into an economic powerhouse and a Startup Heaven.
It is important to highlight some key statistics about Startup Environment in Uttar Pradesh:
- Uttar Pradesh has consistently been recognized as a leader in state startup rankings by DPIIT, with aspirations to become the TOP PERFORMER and eventually BEST PERFORMER in the near future.
- Nearly half of Uttar Pradesh’s startups are based in tier II and tier III cities.
- Startups in Uttar Pradesh have created over 1 lakh jobs.
- The state government has approved incentives for 206 startups, with ₹5.50 crore disbursed.
- 206 startups were approved for incentives under the policy, Rs 5.50 Crores disbursed.
- 63 incubators across 23 districts of Uttar Pradesh have been recognized by the state government, with Rs 5.53 crores disbursed.
- Rs 26.67 lakhs have been disbursed to 18 startups from the Purvanchal region.
- Rs 18 Lakhs have been disbursed to women-led startups.
- Uttar Pradesh has established 3 CoEs in AI & ML, Drones, and MedTech, with 4 more CoEs to be established soonin the fields of Telecom (5G & 6G), and Additive Manufacturing.
The confederation of Indian Industry (CII) is also playing a crucial role in enabling and strengthening the start-up ecosystem in Uttar Pradesh by providing them with an apt platform to connect with the key-stakeholders, institutions, angel investors and the government by way of providing them with an opportunity to participate in CII’s flagship conferences, summits and key initiatives such as recently concluded Krishi-Bharat AgroTech 2024, Innorail 2024, a conference on modern technologies in Railways, Health Summit, SugarTech, conference on warehousing and logistics, Roads & Highways, Pharma conclave, etc to name a few.
CII’s efforts to foster startup growth in India are further exemplified by its Centre of Excellence for Innovation, Entrepreneurship & Start-ups, which serves as a robust platform for strengthening the entrepreneurial ecosystem.CII through its Centre of Excellence is poised to provide a very robust platform for building a stronger entrepreneurial ecosystem in Uttar Pradesh. With the collaboration of government and industry, it will look at the entire ecosystem of startups – all the way from how to take research from lab to market along with the technology and innovation relevant to the society.