Maharashtra India's No.1 export-ready state

Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh have emerged as the top five export ready states of India, among the large states category, in the NITI Aayog’s Export Preparedness Index 2024. As per the index, released on Wednesday, Maharashtra toppled Tamil Nadu to become the Number 1 in 2024 ranking which takes into account performance during FY '22-F'Y24 when compared to EPI 2022 whenTamil Nadu stood at Number 1 followed by Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat and Haryana. The Aayog, however, said the EPI 2024 ranking is not comparable to EPI 2022 as the entire methodology of assessing the states has changed. Among smaller states, north-eastern states and union territory ranking, Uttarakhand has topped the list followed by Jammu & Kashmir, Nagaland, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu and Goa. “The world is passing through very turbulent times but these turbulent times give you opportunities to break through,” NITI Aayog CEO BVR Subrahmanyam said. According to Subrahmanym, exports are one of the key drivers of growth and are fundamental to India’s aspiration to become a $30 trillion economy with exports accounting for $7.5 trillion. “States have a role to play and NITI’s Export Preparedness Index 2024 gives guidance on how states can push their exports,” he added. The EPI 2024, prepared by the Aayog in collaboration with Deloitte, ranks states across 70 parameters under four key pillars and 13 sub-pillars. The four pillars include export infrastructure, policy and governance, export performance and business ecosystem. While the first three pillars carry a weightage of 20% each, the business ecosystem carries a weightage of 40% in the index. Further, EPI 2024 saw addition of five new dimensions while 19 parameters from the previous edition have been removed or merged, and 8 enhanced to provide actionable insights and maintain relevance to the macroeconomic climate. The five new dimensions added include macroeconomy, human capital, MSME ecosystem, financial access and credit and cost competitiveness.