NEW DELHI—Gujarat has emerged as the highest-ranked state in India’s first Investment Friendliness Index, a new benchmark released by government policy think tank NITI Aayog to assess how effectively states and union territories attract and sustain investment through infrastructure, governance and regulatory reforms.
The inaugural index, released on Friday, evaluated all 28 states and eight union territories across 84 indicators grouped under eight pillars, including infrastructure, business climate, government policy, regulatory ease, institutional environment, financial health, resources and environmental resilience. Gujarat received a score of 56.6 out of 100, followed by Maharashtra with 53.7 and Tamil Nadu with 53.3 among the large states.
NITI Aayog said the assessment is intended to serve as a reform tool rather than simply a ranking exercise, enabling states to benchmark their performance, identify gaps and adopt best practices to improve their investment ecosystems. The report grouped jurisdictions into four categories: top performers, frontrunners, emerging performers and aspiring states. Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Goa and Odisha were classified as top performers.
According to the report, Gujarat's performance was supported by strong port infrastructure, a competitive power sector and an established business environment. Maharashtra was recognised for its ability to attract private equity and venture capital, while Tamil Nadu was cited for its infrastructure network and export performance.
Among other categories, Uttarakhand ranked first among hilly and northeastern states, while Goa led the city states and union territories grouping. No jurisdiction scored above 60 points, underscoring what NITI Aayog described as continued scope for reforms across multiple dimensions of the investment climate.
NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Ashok Kumar Lahiri said at the report's release that India would require faster economic growth and higher investment levels to achieve its long-term development goals, adding that improvements in state-level investment ecosystems would play a critical role. Chief Executive Officer Nidhi Chhibber said the index was designed to encourage healthy competition while promoting collaboration and the exchange of best practices among states.
The think tank said it plans for the index to become a recurring benchmark, helping policymakers monitor progress in improving ease of doing business, policy predictability and investment conditions as states compete to attract domestic and foreign capital.
