It only takes one minute to start a venture in Kerala: Industries Minister

Kerala Minister for Industries P. Rajeeve speaking at a roadshow organised by the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation in partnership with the Confederation of Indian Industry in Bengaluru on Thursday.

It only takes one minute for a Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) to start a venture in Kerala as the State now has a highly conducive industrial ecosystem, said Kerala Minister for Industries, Coir, and Law P. Rajeeve.

The Minister interacted with industry leaders during a roadshow organised by Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation in partnership with the Confederation of Indian Industry here on Thursday.

“The facts are far away from the general presumption that Kerala is not suitable for industries,” Mr. Rajeeve said.

Number one position

The Minister highlighted how Kerala has achieved the number one position in ease of doing business in the country.

“Regarding ease of doing business, Kerala was ranked 28th position at the time we (the present government) assumed office. But, after implementing several reforms and bringing in a new industrial policy, we were able to achieve ‘top achiever’ position in most number of reform areas in ease of doing business,” he said.

“By incorporating the advantages and factoring in barriers, we have adopted a new industrial policy with the motto ‘nature, people, industry,’ where nature and people come first. We are focusing on knowledge-based industries with 22 priority sectors, including artificial intelligence, blockchain technology, Graphene, big data analytics, machine learning, aerospace and, defence,” Mr. Rajeeve pointed out.

“As part of the ‘Year of Enterprises’ initiative of the government, within 2 years and 6 months, we were able to establish over 2,90,000 MSMEs in Kerala, with an investment of over ₹18,000 crore. Out of this, 92,000 are women entrepreneurs and 30 transgender persons,” the Minister said.

Citing the example of the Cochin Shipyard Limited, the Minister mentioned that not a single factory was disrupted by workers’ agitation in the past 25 years in Kerala, which clearly shows that the State’s industrial landscape has turned totally investor-friendly and adaptive.