In its attempt to promote a healthy start-up ecosystem, Kerala Government is inviting IT start-ups for projects worth upto Rs 1 crore. The Kerala Start-up Mission (KSUM) has emerged as one of the most active state level organizations supporting the start-ups which register themselves in the state.
Various state-level departments and autonomous institutions have attained the government’s approval to invite the IT start-ups. The government is backed by a number of departments, boards and local-self-governing entities, universities and state-owned corporations providing IT-based requirements.
Seeking great support, the state-owned/state-run institutions can invite start-ups for setting up their projects/operations in Kerala. They can bid for the tenders with the cost of orders ranging between 20 lakh to 1 crore. The start-ups can be based on developing programmes, internal software packages towards digitizing their different functions, etc.
An official statement by Dr Saji Gopinath, CEO, KSUM, appreciated the state government’s move stating that it will be a big boost to the start-up ecosystem in the state and expects a number of start-ups to move to Kerala.
Supported by a number of driving factors, India has emerged as one of the top three countries globally in terms of the number of start-ups founded. The country’s total venture investment in start-ups over the last decade is estimated at ₹1,117 billion.
The move of inviting start-ups by the Kerala Government is believed to follow a recent survey report by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP). Along with the rankings of different states on their policy on start-ups, the report also included a few proposals on what the states like Kerala could do to improve the situation as far as start-ups are concerned. Kerala ranked a little below the states like Gujarat.
Additionally, the Kerala government has allowed some of its departments to make direct purchases ranging between Rs 5-20 lakh from the state ventures which have been cleared by KSUM. Statistics show that there 40 different start-ups offering their products/services to the state government entities.
