Business environment best in Telangana: Niti Aayog

Hyderabad: Telangana topped the country in creating the best business environment, according to the NITI Aayog’s second edition of Export Preparedness Index (EPI)-2021. A robust business environment attracts investment in any region. In this category, Telangana has shown the best performance with a score of 100, while neighbouring Andhra Pradesh scored 99.61 and Gujarat 99.5. […]

Hyderabad: Telangana topped the country in creating the best business environment, according to the NITI Aayog’s second edition of Export Preparedness Index (EPI)-2021. A robust business environment attracts investment in any region. In this category, Telangana has shown the best performance with a score of 100, while neighbouring Andhra Pradesh scored 99.61 and Gujarat 99.5.

Telangana also finds a place among the top five States in exports. Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana contribute 75 per cent of the country’s overall exports, Niti Aayog said.

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“Telangana, a landlocked State, has shown the best performance with 100 scores, leaving Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan behind. This is primarily due to its innovation index performance and lower power cost. Hyderabad, Telangana’s capital, is a hub for Information Technology and the pharmaceutical industry.
This is also reflected in its top 10 export basket commodities,” the report further said.

Moreover, Hyderabad is emerging as a hotspot in the data centre space. IT, ITeS, pharmaceuticals, and cloud solution companies’ presence in the State act as demand drivers for significant ticket investments, Niti Aayog said. The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) invests $ 70 million (about Rs 525 crore) in its own Tier-IV data centre in Hyderabad. This has been reflected in its Ease of doing business score of 48.6.

“Telangana’s performance is a positive outlier; hence it must be understood relative to other States. The State’s efforts at improving the business environment are commendable,” the report said. However, there is scope for improvement, it said.

Telangana ranks fifth among landlocked States in export preparedness. Among landlocked States, Haryana (53.20), Uttar Pradesh (51.09), Madhya Pradesh (51.03), Punjab (50.99) and Telangana (47.92) got the first five rankings respectively. In the overall ranking in export preparedness, Telangana secured 10th rank with a score of 47.92.

“Telangana and Jharkhand need to fill gaps in their infrastructure facilities to improve the overall export ecosystem,” the report further said. Niti Aayog released an Export Preparedness Index (EPI) starting last year to enhance a sense of competition between States and encourage them to adopt export promotion policies. The EPI identifies several opportunities and challenges in the export sector at the State level. The EPI reviews the export policy, business ecosystem, export ecosystem, and export performance of all the States and also provides policy suggestions for future implementation.

This year’s Export Preparedness Index framework is an improved version of its previous edition as it also includes information about the export-related policy at the district level. In the overall ranking, Telangana stood tenth with a score of 47.92. Within the landlocked State category, it stood fifth with a score of 47.92. It stood 12th in the policy pillar (66.45), seventh in the business ecosystem pillar (54.18), 12th in the export ecosystem (33.24), ninth in export performance (31.67).

“On the export infrastructure, in the landlocked category – Telangana (17.45) and Jharkhand (16.50) need to fill gaps in their infrastructure facilities to improve the overall export ecosystem. This can be done by introducing export promotion hubs SEZ in the regions and making trade guides more transparent and accessible with relevant export information. This will improve the existing export infrastructure, improving the export of various commodities and services,” it suggested. Telangana has slipped from second to the fourth position in the landlocked category. Its performance has improved in the business environment, access to finance and R&D infrastructure. But its overall scores have fallen in the export ecosystem and export performance pillars. Moreover, the State needs to improve its efforts in strengthening policy measures for better performance in the export preparedness index, it said.

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