The center has launched the Start-Up India campaign, but most states, having realized that one model does not fit all, are creating their own policies to nurture the startup culture in their home states. As a consequence of the same, the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), with the aim of creating a state level buzz and assessing the states on the basis of their specific policies, R&D, and human capital development support has launched the Startup Yatra initiative. This particular central government initiative will run parallel to Startup India plan launched in 2016. 

The initiative was launched by the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath and announced, ‘1000 crore corpus to support emerging business through various schemes’. He had said during the launch, “I believe if Uttar Pradesh takes an initiative in this direction, the country will march ahead.”

According to a recent media report, Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Kerala, and Rajasthan had their own startup policies before the launch of Startup India last year, 11 more states including Telangana, Karnataka, and Bihar have launched policies to nurture the startups in their state.

According to Karan Anand, Senior Assistant Vice President at Invest India, which works with DIPP and helps implement various initiatives under startup India, “State-specific startup policies were not the focus when Startup India was launched, but then we realized that execution on the ground can happen only at the state-level. While startups can avail benefits under the national Startup India policy, having something at the state-level is important... especially because of the obvious reason that (state governments) are much more locally connected and have their own unique requirements.”

Reportedly, DIPP is preparing a ranking of all states and union territories on the basis of their achievements in implementing the startup policies. The ranking for the same would be launched in June.