Karnataka, Telangana, Haryana top 3 states in innovation: NITI Aayog

Government think tank NITI Aayog on Thursday released the third edition of the India Innovation Index 2021, in which Karnataka, Telangana, Haryana emerged as the holders of top three ranks among major states in terms of innovation.

While Karnataka has topped again in the ‘Major States’ category, Manipur is leading the ‘North East and Hill States’ category and Chandigarh is the top performer in the ‘Union Territories and City States’ category, the index stated.

Delhi was followed by Chandigarh in the second spot of ‘Union Territories and City States’ category.'

The key findings provide a detailed analysis of the various factors that drive innovation in the country. These analyses will be critical for policymakers to identify the drivers and bottlenecks for each state to promote innovation in the region, the index highlighted.

Furthermore, in terms of rapid urbanisation, Karnataka was the top recipient of foreign direct investment (FDI) amongst states, with 38 per cent of the total FDI equity inflow, followed by Maharashtra (at 26 per cent) and Delhi (at 14 per cent).

The index pointed out that although in India the pace of urbanisation is low, Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata — with 25 million, 21 million and 15 million people, respectively — are among the most populous cities in the world. The urban population in India contributes 63 per cent to GDP.

What is the India Innovation Index?

Prepared by NITI Aayog and the Institute for Competitiveness, the India Innovation Index is a comprehensive tool for the evaluation and development of the country’s innovation ecosystem. It ranks the states and the union territories on their innovation performance to build healthy competition amongst them.

The latest edition highlights the scope of innovation analysis in the country by drawing on the framework of the Global Innovation Index. The number of indicators has increased from 36 (in the India Innovation Index 2020) to 66 (in the India Innovation Index 2021). The indicators are now distributed across 16 sub-pillars, which, in turn, form seven key pillars.

India vs the world

In terms of India's Performance in the Global Innovation Index (GII), the country has shown consistent improvement when it comes to the rankings, NITI Aayog stated in its report.

From the 60th position in 2017, India reached the 46th spot in 2021. India was ranked 1st among the Central and South Asian nations and 2nd among the lower-middle-income countries, it said.

"The current growth trajectory of India indicates further improvement in the coming years. However, as India starts to climb up the ladder, the competition would get tighter and India would need to perform exceedingly well," it added.

The India Innovation Index 2021 was released by NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Suman Bery in the presence of Member Dr VK Saraswat, CEO Parameswaran Iyer and Senior Adviser Neeraj Sinha, and Institute for Competitiveness Chairman, Dr Amit Kapoor.

"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," said Saraswat.

"I would like to reaffirm NITI 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 the states and other stakeholders," noted Iyer.

The first and second editions of India Innovation Index were launched in October 2019 and January 2021, respectively.