Tamil Nadu govt wants to be the next startup hub in India

After the central government announced its plans to make a start-up friendly environment in the country and Karnataka government following suit, the Tamil Nadu government is talking to startup founders and industry veterans so that it can chalk out a policy to make state-level documentation easy for new firms.

To make this possible, a group of entrepreneurs, which includes Cognizant founder Lakshmi Narayanan and Polaris founder Arun Jain, has suggested the state industries department steps to evolve a policy which will not hassle new startups with the lengthy procedure of company registration.

"It takes more than a month to get your company a name. Getting office space at Tidel Park with no name is near-impossible. The startups get stuck, wasting time for product development in procedure," says Lakshmi Narayanan, who cofounded Cognizant and is now its vice-chairman.

The policy, which is in its early stages, is being discussed without a s[no specific time-frame. Cutting the time taken for a startup to get registered is the primary focus, which would pave the way for all business operations such as tie-ups and funding.

"At the outset, the idea is welcome. Even Karnataka is planning a startup policy. At the national level, the centre is considering this to plug flight of startups. So, it is time for Tamil Nadu too. A liberal startup policy is already enshrined in the state's IT/ITeS policy and any additional lines of action to that are welcome," a top government official who is aware of the developments told ET.

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