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Sivarajah Ramanathan has stepped down as the Mission Director and Chief Executive Officer of StartupTN, ending a tenure of more than four and a half years.
The Tamil Nadu government has accepted his resignation and appointed L Nirmal Raj, Industries Commissioner and Director of Industries and Commerce, to hold additional charge as CEO of Startup TN until further orders.
A Government Order to this effect was issued by the Secretary of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Department, Atul Anand.
Ramanathan, whose extended tenure was scheduled to continue until December 2026, confirmed on Wednesday that his resignation had been accepted by the government.
Sharing the news on social media, Ramanathan said he was leaving the organisation with a sense of “gratitude, pride and fulfillment” and added that he would continue to contribute to Tamil Nadu’s startup ecosystem in his personal capacity.
Ramanathan assumed office in January 2022 after being appointed by the then Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government to lead StartupTN, the state's startup and innovation mission, launched in 2021.
During his tenure, the agency expanded its role in promoting entrepreneurship and innovation across Tamil Nadu and increased its presence beyond Chennai through regional initiatives in tier - II and tier - III cities.
According to StartupTN, the number of startups recognised by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) in Tamil Nadu grew from 2,032 in 2021 to more than 14,700 during his tenure.
Tamil Nadu was also recognised as a best-performing state in the Union government’s Startup Ranking framework.
The agency rolled out programmes focusing on startup funding, incubation, mentorship, women entrepreneurship, rural innovation and deep-tech development.
Nearly half of the DPIIT- recognised startups in the state are women-led, a figure often highlighted as a key achievement of Tamil Nadu’s ecosystem.
Ramanathan also played a key role in shaping the Tamil Nadu Startup and Innovation Policy, 2023, which laid out the state's roadmap for strengthening innovation, entrepreneurship and startup led economic growth.
