Gandhinagar: The state govt on Wednesday said that Gujarat was the first state in the country to successfully implement a startup policy. While over 12,500 startups have been recognised in the state so far, it received the ‘best performer’ award in the startup rankings category for four consecutive years (2018-2022). National Startup Day is observed every year on Jan 16.
Currently, Ahmedabad has 5,269 startups, Surat 1,903, Vadodara 1,344, Rajkot 1,172, and Gandhinagar 601, the govt said in a statement on Wednesday.
It added that 1,343 startups were in healthcare and life sciences, 1,186 in IT services, and 819 in agriculture. The Gujarat govt established the ‘Gujarat Young Entrepreneurs Venture Fund‘, contributing Rs 350 crore so far.
The govt said that state nodal agencies, incubators, accelerators, mentors, investors, govt institutions, and other stakeholders provide various facilities to entrepreneurs in the state. As a result, Gujarat received the Prime Minister Award for Excellence in Public Administration in 2017 for effective implementation of the Startup India program.
To maximise support for youth in the startup sector, the state govt established the iCreate Centre on a PPP basis, which provided financial assistance to over 553 startups and is utilising Rs 100 crore from the iCreate Angel Fund to promote startups.
The statement added that in order to further strengthen the state’s startup ecosystem, the govt inaugurated the ‘Gujarat Students Startup and Innovation Hub (i-Hub)’ complex on Dec 5, 2023. The i-Hub Centre, built at a cost of over Rs 60 crore, houses over 700 startups. The state govt also disbursed more than Rs 10 crore through the Student Startup and Innovation Policy (SSIP), the state industry department statement added.