Telangana 2nd in Niti’s innovation index

Hyderabad: A day after cracking the list of best states for start-up ecosystems, Telangana on Thursday ranked second among ‘major states’ in the NITI Aayog’s India Innovation Index 2021 and also ranked first in the ‘performers’ category.

Telangana was preceded by Karnataka and followed by Haryana in the innovators under the ‘major states’ category, which comprised 17 states, with other categories including 10 north-east and hill states, and nine Union territories and city-states.

IT minister K.T. Rama Rao took to Twitter to hail Telangana's achievements. Rao tweeted: “Glad that the 3-I mantra; Innovation, Infrastru-cture & Inclusive growth of #Telangana is paying rich dividends @NITIAayog has ranked Telangana as No-1 in performers category & overall as 2nd best in the country. Kudos to Hon’ble CM KCR for his visionary leadership(sic)”.

Finance minister T. Harish Rao tweeted: “#Telangana ranked 2nd in India Innovation Index & stands 1st as a performer by @NITIAayog. This is testament to Hon'ble #CMKCR garu's vision, as even Central govt acknowledged that ICT labs have doubled; Enrolments in higher education, Private R&D units & Startups have increased.”

The India Innovation Index 2021 was set against the backdrop of the pandemic, which disrupted the global demographic landscape. The index examines innovation capacities and ecosystems at the sub-national level and highlights the recent factors and catalysts for promoting crisis-driven innovation.

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

Among the worst performers were Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Bihar, which ranked at the bottom of the ‘major states’ category for the third year in a row, while Karnataka topped the index for the third consecutive year.

Among Union territories, Chandigarh topped the chart, while Manipur occupied the top spot among north-east and hill states.

Iyer said he would like to reaffirm 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 that 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 said.

The first and second editions of the India Innovation Index were released in October 2019 and January 2021.

An official statement said that 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.