The Tamil Nadu government is planning to launch a mega incubator for startups focused on design, marketing and sales, said Sivarajah Ramanathan, project manager at Startup TN.
Established in 2021, Startup TN is the Government of Tamil Nadu’s initiative to foster innovation and entrepreneurship in Tamil Nadu and identify the necessary parts of the ecosystem within the state.
In the last two years, Tamil Nadu has seen its number of startups almost quadruple and moved from last to first place in the state’s startup rankings, Ramanathan said at Tamil Nadu Story 2024, YourStory’s flagship event. in the state.
There are currently 8,952 new businesses in the state, and Tamil Nadu’s new business policy aims to increase that number to more than 15,000 by 2028.
Emphasizing the importance of incubation, Ramanathan said, “Although there are 124 incubation centers in the state, only 20% of them create genuine meaning. Sometimes we have to settle for the fact to take it to the next level. . . We want to create the necessary intensity for a cutting-edge and scalable startup.
The incubator proposed through the government is aimed at this objective.
The startup TN studies the state’s ecosystem to see how many corporations have prospects for innovation and growth. The aim is for the Tamil Nadu government to have no “illusions” about what constitutes a startup and to clearly perceive the difference between micro-enterprises and startups, Ramanathan said.
This is where incubation will play a role, he added.
“The startup TN launches an industry-agnostic incubator that will enable corporations to design, market and sell their products. “
Ramanathan is not a fan of the concept of “unicorns” – corporations worth billions of dollars – and said the focus should be on building “fundamentally strong” corporations.
Addressing the challenge of income stream inequality in the country, the Startup TN mission director highlighted the efforts of the Tamil Nadu government to promote inclusivity in the startup ecosystem through projects like the Startup Fund. SC/ST shares; investment for women entrepreneurs, self-help groups, micro-businesses and women-led startups; and investment for transgender and disabled people.
He also spoke about the state government’s initiative to provide GST and onboarding to businesses and efforts to create startup hubs in cities like Madurai, Tirunelveli, Cuddalore, Salem, Hosur and Thanjavur.
“We also want to inspire campus entrepreneurs,” he said.
Emphasizing the desire to create innovative startups with world-class deep technology products, solutions and innovation for the global market, Ramanathan said the vision is to position Tamil Nadu among the top 20 most sensible global startup ecosystems in the next 10 to 12 years.
He said a “big budget” global startup assembly will be held in Chennai early next year with foreign pavilions showcasing startup ecosystems, accelerators, investors and incubators from around the world.
Edited by Kanishk Singh
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