Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu lead in export preparedness

NEW DELHI: Gujarat topped among all the states and Union Territories in terms of export preparedness, followed by Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, according to the Export Preparedness Index (EPI) prepared by NITI Aayog.

The index categorised the states as coastal, landlocked, Himalayan and a separate categor y for Union Territories.

With a score of 75.19, Gujarat topped the list, while Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu scored 75.14 and 64.93, respectively. Significantly, all the top three are coastal states which have ready port infrastructure.

"Gujarat has topped the index with a strong display in various sub-pillars such as export promotion policy, business environment and infrastructure. Notably, other coastal states such as Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu occupy the second and the third positions in the index," the NITI Aayog report said on Wednesday.

All the three states have per formed consistently across all the pillars, thus consolidating strong scores, it noted.

Rajasthan, a landlocked state, clinched the fourth spot with a score of 62.59, and Odisha, yet another coastal state came fif th with a score of 58.23.

Amongst Himalayan states and Union Territories or city states, Uttarakhand, and Delhi are the top-per forming states respectively.

The report noted that "Delhi is an anomaly because it does not provide enough trade-related support, such as a trade guide or an online portal for easy accessibility of information". Despite these shortcomings, Delhi has been able to per form at par with high-per forming states, the report said, adding that was possible as Delhi has been able to attract businesses and investments, thereby creating an enabling business infrastructure.

The national capital has tremendous potential to translate this into an ideal export ecosystem, if it gets in place the prerequisite basic infrastructure in place, it said.