Tamil Nadu, Gujarat favourites for starting a business: Survey

The states offer the best incentives and most conducive investment policies

Tamil Nadu and Gujarat have emerged as the most preferred destinations for those looking to start a business as these states offer the best incentives and most conducive investment policies, a survey has found.

The survey is the first-ever nationwide poll of micro, small and medium industries which was conducted over a nine month period covering 26 states and 3,30,000 MSMEs across the country.

"In terms of ease of starting or doing business in a state, Tamil Nadu topped the survey with 9% respondents extremely satisfied with policies, infrastructure, benefits and incentives. Gujarat came in close second with 91.75% of the respondents from the state highlighting tremendous growth," the survey said.

Moreover, according to the survey, 58% of the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) polled were doing far better business than last year in terms of turnover and profitability.

Further, 24% of the MSMEs were doing marginally better than last year while 61% respondents polled had employed new staff this year. Besides, 19% reported no change in number of employees from last year while a sizeable 20% actually cut their workforce.

The survey was undertaken to understand the issues faced by MSMEs and provide them with probable solutions that could help them to improve their business conditions.

It is huge in terms of sample size and predominantly highlights the financial ecosystem, national entrepreneurial ecosystem, state entrepreneurial ecosystem, state of MSME business and other diverse factors concerning MSMEs.

The survey was instituted by the India SME Forum and executed by SDRC India.