Web desk 06/06/2020
The Left Democratic Front Government has been working with focus on policies for empowering the youth in the state and utilising their skills for the advancement of Kerala.
“As part of that, the start-up sector is looking to grow. As a result of these efforts, there has been a big jump in the start-up sector in Kerala. We have been able to launch a number of start-up that have gained international attention,” Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said.
In four years, the number of start-ups has increased from 300 to 2,200. Investment in the start-up sector has also increased. While the investments brought by start-ups during 2011-16 was Rs.207 crore, in the last four years alone, start-ups have invested Rs.1,200 crore. During the period under this government, the corpus fund was raised Rs.739 crore for start-ups and it was zero during 2011-16.
“In 2016-20, we were able to provide support for more than 300 new start-up ideas. During the time of the previous government, only 20 ideas were supported. While 130 startups received international support, only 15 firms received such assistance during 2011-16.
The number of incubators also increased from 18 to 42. In the past, the government supported 80 IEDC (The Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Centers), but this time there are 226 IEDCs functioning with government support,” the Chief Minister said.
It was also during this period that the Integrated Startup Complex was launched in Kochi and International Fab Labs were started in the State. “The growth of this sector was also a reflection of the fact that we have topped the international rankings of start-ups,” Mr Vijayan said.
