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Niti Aayog’s inaugural ranking of Indian states for innovation finds a South, West skew
The index measures the overall innovation environment for four groups—major states, north-east, hill states and union territories.
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Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra were ranked the top three major states in Niti Aayog’s first ever innovation index released on Thursday while Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Jharkhand occupied the bottom three positions. Simply put the index measures the overall innovation environment for four groups—major states, north-east, hill states and union territories.
Sikkim, Himachal and Uttarakhand topped the rankings among the north east and hill states while Nagaland, Mizoram and Meghalaya were stacked at the bottom. Among Union Territories, Delhi topped the list followed by Chandigargh and Goa.
The NITI Aayog index that has been developed in partnership with the Institute for Competitiveness to measure the innovation ecosystem has also identified areas for improvement.
According to the index, Delhi, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Uttar Pradesh are the most efficient states in translating inputs into output and are reflective of a South-West skew in innovative capabilities.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal credited his government for Delhi’s good showing.
“Congratulations to all Delhiites for coming first in Niti Aayog’s Innovation Index. Delhi govt’s investments into high quality education, health and infrastructure are showing results,” Kejriwal tweeted.
The index shows that the innovation ecosystem of the country is strong in south and western parts of India. In fact, three of the top five major states are from southern India. Delhi and Haryana seem to be an exception to this rule and seem to be doing well on the Index. “There seems to be a west-south and north-east divide across the country,” the report states.
The index is calculated as the average of the scores achieved on the input and the output side, also described as “enablers” and “performance” and is aimed to drive a culture of innovation and healthy competition among the Indian states.
“In order to further drive a culture of innovation across Indian states, Niti Aayog has come up with its first-ever innovation index, a tool that will help create a conducive ecosystem for innovation to flourish across the country,” said Niti Aayog vice chairman Rajiv Kumar said.
Karnataka has topped the performance parameters and is also among the best in infrastructure, knowledge workers, knowledge output and business environment.
Maharashtra has the best enabling environment for innovation despite its overall third rank among the major states. Tamil Nadu and Kerala top the list for human capital and Haryana has the best safety and legal environment, according to the report.
Findings of the index indicate the need for more research and development spending, improvement of top educational institutions and greater coordination and collaboration with the industry at the national level to improve the overall innovative ecosystem.
