Niti Innovation Index: Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra ranked top three states in innovation

Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Telangana and Haryana have been ranked as top five states in innovation in NITI Aayog's first Innovation Index released on Thursday.

The index, released by Aayog's vice chairman Rajiv Kumar and CEO Amitabh Kant, has been developed into the lines of Global Innovation Index.

Chattisgarh, Bihar and Jharkhand are at the bottom of the index among states. Among north-eastern states, Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand have top the index while Delhi, Chandigarh and Goa have topped the list among union territories in the countries.

The idea behind the index, which has been developed over last one-and-a-half year, is to analyse innovation at state level. The index ranks the states based on their innovation capability, the challenges and opportunities that lie for states and actions needed by policy makers to foster innovation.

The index is based on seven pillars which include five enablers and two performance indicators some of which include human capital, investment, knowledge workers and knowledge output.

"Philosophy of naming and shaming states will help them to innovate," NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said.