Tamil Nadu is among the top 10 regions in Asia in terms of talent pool
▪ Tamil Nadu is among the top 10 regions in Asia in terms of talent pool and NITI Aayog has described the State as a model for the innovation ecosystem, in a reflection of its strong potential, said Atul Anand, Additional Chief Secretary, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) Department, Tamil Nadu.
▪ Chennai known as the software services capital, with a buoyant medical tourism sector and
agriculture start-ups, he said.
▪ The State had grown in the past four years, from having just 2,000 start-ups to over 10,000,
indicating that its start-up ecosystem is robust,
▪ He said the State government had, in its recent Budget, allocated ₹10 crore to develop start-ups in the space sector.
▪ The Global Startup Report 2024 had ranked Chennai in the 18th position.
▪ The State had a wide spectrum of economy, with around 30% coming from manufacturing and the rest from a broad sector of services.
Gramam Thorum Puthozhil (Establishing Start-ups in Villages)
▪ The Tamil Nadu Startup and Innovation Mission (StartupTN) will be launching a scheme called Gramam Thorum Puthozhil (Establishing Start-ups in Villages) this year, focusing on inclusive entrepreneurship, rural innovation, and sustainable economic growth.
▪ The policy focuses on three major inclusive aspects — gender inclusivity, caste inclusivity, and
geographical inclusivity.
▪ Tamil Nadu currently had over 10,700 start-ups.
▪ “In 2023, the Government of Tamil Nadu introduced a policy that slightly modified the Government of India’s definition of a start-up.
▪ While the Centre defines a start-up as being less than 10 years old with a turnover of less than ₹100 crore,
▪ Tamil Nadu’s policy revised the turnover threshold to ₹50 crore
▪ Tamil Nadu’s definition expands beyond new innovations. For example, while e-commerce may no longer be considered an innovation, if a marginalised community — such as a tribal one — is using an online platform to sell their products, it qualifies as a start-up to tamil nadu government 10,800 start-ups were registered in Tamil Nadu
▪ Until March 2021, only 2,032 start-ups were registered in Tamil Nadu, and now, this number has increased to over 10,800 and nearly 50% of these are founded by women,
▪ “In the last four years, regional innovation centres have been established in Erode, Tirunelveli, Hosur, Salem, Cuddalore, Thanjavur, and Coimbatore.”
▪ Around 31,11,000 students studying in schools and colleges have been provided with entrepreneurship and innovation training.
▪ Over 205 start-ups have benefited under the TANSEED scheme (including 36 Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SC/STs) start-ups).
▪ Launch pad programmes are being conducted to introduce new businesses. ‘Pre Incubation Centres’ have been set up in educational institutions across cities in Tamil Nadu
▪ 59,584 entrepreneurs were created. This includes 21,281 are women, 9,224 are from SC/STs,
2,497 are from minority communities and 717 are disabled individuals.
