Punjab ranks 16th on startup list: Minster’s reply in Parl

Sanjeev Singh Bariana

Chandigarh, December 24

Punjab is ranked 16th on the list of startups among states and Union Territories in the country as per data released by Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Som Parkash in reply to a question during the recently concluded Lok Sabha session.

In reply to a query by MP Nama Nageswara Rao, the minister provided the data of the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) as regards recognised startups over the last five years (2018 to 2022).

The figures showed that Maharashtra with 4,768 startups since 2018 was ranked number one till the end of 2022. Delhi with 2,558 startups was ranked number three in the country. Haryana has 1,327 startups.

Beginning with a total of 58 in 2018, Punjab managed to get only 294 startups till the end of 2022. Chandigarh had 82 registered startups till 2022. With 7,835 startups at the national level in 2018, the total now has gone up to 26,360.

A senior official of Invest Punjab said, “Today, the state has 1,276 startups recognised by the DPIIT, out of which, 650 are led by women. Currently, we are ranked among the leaders promoting startup projects in the country. The updated data will show a different picture.”

Talking on a related subject, Rajya Sabha Member Vikramjit Sahney said, “In a case study of Ludhiana, 632 applications were submitted by ITI graduates, but only 52 loans have been sanctioned for startups. There are at least 6,300 bank branches in Punjab and if each bank sanctions five loans, there should be 30,000 startup beneficiaries in the state.”

Sahney said, “The loans under various self-employment schemes in Punjab are grossly underutilised. Only 30-40 per cent of the targets have been met under various schemes such as MUDRA, PM Employment Generation Programme for loans up to 50 lakh in manufacturing and services sectors.”

The action plan for Startup India was unveiled on January 16, 2016. The government has introduced more than 55 regulatory reforms to enhance the ease of doing business. Importantly, the startups “are allowed to self-certify their compliance under nine labour and three environment laws for 3-5 years from the date of incorporation”.