Karnataka tops Niti’s innovation index

Karnataka has topped the Niti Aayog’s inaugural India Innovation Index which explores the capacity of innovation in the country. Delhi topped the index among Union Territories.

The rankings were recently released by Niti Aayog Vice-Chairman Rajiv Kumar. India Innovation Index 2019, developed on the lines of Global Innovation Index (GII), looks into the innovation ecosystem of Indian states and UTs to help policymakers design policies to drive innovation across regions.

The ranking was done in three categories—major states, North East & Hill States, and UTs/city and small states. Sikkim topped in the North-East category, while Delhi was at the top in the UT segment. Telangana, Haryana, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Gujarat, and Andhra Pradesh were among the other states that topped the innovation index.

The report, which has captured trends and done deep-drive analyses of various factors that drive innovation at the country, state and pillar levels, envisages to help policymakers and corporates identify some of the issues at a sustainable level in India.

The index has been grouped under two major heads: enablers, the factors that will drive innovation in states and UTs; and performance that will measure the actual outcomes in the innovation competitiveness of states.

In terms of attracting investment, the top position was again bagged by Karnataka among major states, followed by Maharashtra, Haryana, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Telangana, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh. Bihar, Jharkhand, and Punjab were the least attractive states for investment.

Among North East and hill states, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, and Tripura were the top three states, while among the UTs, Lakshadweep, Delhi and Goa were the top three regions.