The Tamil Nadu Startup and Innovation Mission (TANSIM) is working on creating a startup database, strengthening the investor ecosystem, forming a mentor network and a revised startup policy. “There is a perception that Tamil Nadu is lagging behind when compared to other states when it comes to the startup ecosystem. And this is based on startup rankings that's released by various associations and research firms. But we are actually doing well and the rankings are low because we don't have proper data to show various metrics,” TANSIM CEO Sivarajah Ramanathan said.
“So we are now working on collating data to show where exactly we stand,” he added. Some of the key aspects that TANSIM is looking at is data on how many startups are there in each district, how many firms have got funded, how many incubation cells are active and what kind of work are they doing among others. “These are the things we want to study and document,” Mr. Ramanathan said.
TANSIM is also setting up hubs for undertaking startup activities in tier 2 and tier 3 towns. In the recently-concluded State Budget for 2022-23, Finance Minister Palanivel Thiagarajan said, “The Tamil Nadu Startup and Innovation Mission (TANSIM) will set up Regional Startup Hubs in Erode, Madurai and Tirunelveli to ensure development of startup eco-system in all regions across Tamil Nadu.”
