Gujarat tops Niti Aayog’s export index for second year in a row

Gujarat has topped Niti Aayog’s Export Preparedness Index 2021 that aims to help evaluate states’ and Union Territories’ preparedness to export and take measures for improvement wherever possible.

This is the second consecutive year that Gujarat has emerged as the top performer.

According to a report by the government’s policy think tank NITI Aayog on Friday, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Haryana bagged the second, third, fourth and fifth positions, respectively. Lakshadweep, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Ladakh and Meghalaya were placed at the bottom of the index.

“While the central government plays an active role in enhancing India’s exports, it is also essential for the state governments to actively strategise their industrial policies to achieve more significant exports. The top-six states in India —Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana —contribute 75 per cent of India’s overall exports,” NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman

Rajiv Kumar said.

The ranking is based on four main pillars — policy, business ecosystem, export ecosystem and export performance —and 11 sub-pillars, such as export promotion policy and business environment. The index aims to instil competition among all states to bring about favourable policies, ease the regulatory framework, create necessary infrastructure and assist in identifying strategic recommendations for improving export competitiveness.

Since states have a predominant role in the allocation of all factors of production, India’s export policy needs to be more decentralised and state-specific, Kumar said.

The index was released days after the government said India had exported goods worth $400 billion 10 days ahead of schedule —37 per cent higher than the earlier fiscal year.

Commerce Secretary BVR Subrahmanyam said exports have done extremely well and crossed $400 billion-target ahead of schedule despite issues like shortage of containers, shipping freights, shortage of chips and semiconductors.

“About 18 per cent of the economy is merchandise exports… I think we should be aiming at something like 25 per cent of the GDP to be actually traded,” he said, adding that the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) comes out with ODOP (One District One Product) programme, which has actually created a buzz all around and “we have actually built on that to have district export hub initiative, which we are trying to convert into a scheme”.

The commerce secretary also said the government will soon be launch a portal which will contain commodity and country-wise export data. It will also provide real-time data of exports from states and possibly from districts. “I think we should get it going in April,” he added.

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