Tamil Nadu’s start-up ecosystem has grown to over 10,800 registered firms. T.M. Anbarasan, the Minister for Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) of Tamil Nadu, spoke about this growth at the closing session of The Hindu Tamil Nadu Startup Summit-25. Anbarasan said that the number of start-ups has risen a lot from 2,032 in March 2021.
Nearly half of these were founded by women. The government has taken steps to support this growth over the past four years. They plan to open a new regional innovation center in Thoothukudi this year.
This will add to the seven centers already set up in other parts of the state. The government has also trained about 31.11 lakh students in schools and colleges in entrepreneurship and innovation. They have helped over 205 start-ups through the Tamil Nadu Startup Seed Grant Fund (TANSEED) scheme.
This includes 36 ventures founded by people from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SC/ST) communities.
Supporting Tamil Nadu’s start-up growth
A total of ₹69.99 crore has been given to support these businesses.
‘Launch Pad’ programs are being run to introduce new entrepreneurs to the market. ‘Pre-Incubation Centres’ are also being set up in schools across Tamil Nadu to encourage early-stage innovation. Anbarasan said that during the Global Investors Meet last year, around 5,068 agreements were signed just in the MSME sector.
These are expected to create 91,785 jobs. 2,360 companies have already started working, with a total investment of ₹25,097 crore. Work is still going on to get the rest of the companies running.
He noted that 59,584 new entrepreneurs have come up through various government schemes. This includes 21,281 women entrepreneurs, 9,224 entrepreneurs from SC/ST backgrounds, 2,497 from minority communities, and 717 people with disabilities. These efforts are part of the government’s commitment to promoting equality and inclusive growth, as envisioned by Chief Minister M.K. Stalin.
At the event, Anbarasan was honored by Suresh Balakrishna, Chief Revenue Officer of The Hindu Group, along with L.V. Navaneeth, CEO of THG Publishing Private Limited, and Sivarajah Ramanathan, Mission Director and CEO of StartupTN.
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