India Innovation Index: Karnataka, Telangana, Haryana bag top 3 ranks among major states

Karnataka, Telangana and Haryana have been ranked as the top three states among 17 major states in Niti Aayog's third innovation index.

Niti Aayog's India Innovation Index 2021 examines innovation capacities and ecosystems at the sub-national level.

The index, released by Niti Aayog's Vice Chairman Suman Bery in the presence of Chief Executive Officer Parameswaran Iyer on Thursday, has been developed on the lines of the Global Innovation Index.

States and Union Territories were divided into '17 Major States', '10 North-East and Hill States', and '9 Union Territories and City States', for effectively comparing their performance.

Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Bihar have been ranked at the bottom of the index among major states. Karnataka topped the index for the third year in a row.

Among Union Territories, Chandigarh topped the chart, while in the North-East and Hill States category, Manipur occupied the top spot.

"Among the 17 major states, Karnataka, with a score of 18.01, is the top performer, followed by Telangana and Haryana. Chhattisgarh has scored the least, 10.97. And the average score for the major states' category is 14.02," the index showed.

The overall index score is 14.56.

According to the index, Karnataka's high score can be attributed to its peak performance in attracting FDI and a large number of venture capital deals.

Uttar Pradesh and Haryana have registered significant gains in promoting an innovative business environment with a large base of internet subscribers and a safe ecosystem for further investment in the region, it said.

The average score of North-East and Hill States' category was 14.41, the index said, adding that Manipur with a score of 19.37 was at the top and Nagaland with a score of 11 was at the bottom.

While Manipur scored best in the knowledge workers and safety and legal environment pillars, Uttarakhand had the second highest score due to the state government's high R&D investment.

The average innovation score of the 9 Union Territories and City States was 15.74, higher than the national average.

Speaking at the event, Niti Aayog CEO Parameswaran Iyer said he would like to reaffirm the Aayog's continued commitment to monitoring the state of innovation in India through the India Innovation Index.

"We strive to improve the innovation ecosystem across the nation in partnership with states and other stakeholders," he said.

Niti Aayog member V K Saraswat said innovation is the key to sustainable and inclusive growth.

" It can help us solve the biggest challenges of our times, bringing millions out of poverty, generating livelihood opportunities, and paving the way for an Aatmanirbhar Bharat," he added.

The first and second editions of India Innovation Index were launched in October 2019 and January 2021, respectively. According to an official statement, the third edition strengthens the scope of innovation analysis in the country by drawing on the framework of the Global Innovation Index (GII).

The new framework presents a more nuanced and comprehensive outlook for measuring innovation performance in India, with the introduction of 66 unique indicators, as compared to the 36 indicators used in the previous edition (India Innovation Index 2020), it added.

The report noted that the pandemic-induced lockdowns impacted 311 million students.

"In the absence of physical schooling, remote learning was actively introduced across the country... the number of internet users in the country subsequently rose to 83.37 crore in June 2021," it said.

The index also pointed out that India's urban population increased from 222 million (26 per cent of the total population) in 1990 to 440 million (32 per cent) in 2014 and it is projected to reach 814 million (50 per cent ) by 2050.

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