Karnataka, Manipur and Chandigarh have topped in their respective categories in the third edition of NITI Aayog’s India Innovation Index.

The index was released today 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.

Karnataka tops 'Major States' category in India Innovation Index 2021

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, a NITI Aayog release said on Thursday (21 July).

In Major States category, Telangana and Haryana have secured second and third positions, respectively, in the rankings.

Meanwhile, in the 'North East and Hill States' category, Manipur is followed by Uttarakhand and Arunachal Pradesh, respectively.

In the 'UT and City states' category, Chandigarh is followed by Delhi and Anadaman and Nicobar Islands, respectively.

‘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 Dr 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,’ said Iyer.

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 third 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.