Gandhinagar: Gujarat has been ranked first in the first ever export preparedness index 2020 released by NITI AYOG today. It is the first of its kind index on the lines of ease of doing business ranking, which has ranked all the states and Union Territories on various parameters of export preparedness and competitiveness. Parameters on which ranking has been done include export promotion policy, institutional framework, business ecosystem, business environment, trade support, R&D support, export diversification, infrastructure, access to finance, transport connectivity etc.

According to the report, six of eight coastal states feature in the top ten rankings, indicating the presence of strong enabling and facilitating factors to promote exports.Among the landlocked states, Rajasthan has performed the best, followed by Telangana and Haryana.

Among the Himalayan states, Uttarakhand topped the chart, followed by Tripura and Himachal Pradesh, the report said adding that across Union Territories, Delhi has performed the best, followed by Goa and Chandigarh.

Speaking at the launch of the report, Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar said exports are an integral part of Aatmanirbhar Bharat and the country will have to keep striving to increase the share of exports in GDP and world trade.

“We will try to double India”s share in world trade in the coming years,” he said.

The Niti Aayog Vice Chairman pointed out that India”s per capita exports are USD 241, compared to South Korea”s USD 11,900 and China”s USD 18,000, so there is a huge potential for growth of India”s exports, he said adding “states must look at creating a separate department for exports promotion.”

Kumar said the government of India has made it clear that production linked incentive (PLI) schemes are critical to promote exports.He said there is a need to distinguish between coastal states and landlocked states because conditions for exports in coastal states and landlocked states are very different.

Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said rapid growth of exports is a crucial component for long-term economic growth.

India”s merchandise exports have witnessed growth from USD 275.9 billion in 2016–17 to USD 303.5 billion in 2017– 18, to USD 331.0 billion in 2018–19.

However, the COVID-19 crisis dealt a major blow to the current fiscal. Consequently, India”s exports shrank by 60 per cent in April 2020.

Niti Aayog in partnership with the Institute of Competitiveness released the first Export Preparedness Index (EPI) 2020.

The index ranked states on four key parameter – Policy; Business Ecosystem; Export Ecosystem; Export Performance.

The index also took into consideration 11 sub-pillars — Export Promotion Policy; Institutional Framework; Business Environment; Infrastructure; Transport Connectivity; Access to Finance; Export Infrastructure; Trade Support; R&D Infrastructure; Export Diversification; and Growth Orientation.

On Gujarat, the report says:

-As of present, 70 per cent of India’s export has been dominated by five states – Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Telangana

-Gujarat doesn’t offer any form of loan facilities to be provided to the exporters. In this parameter Gujarat lags, points out the report.

-The report also points out, ‘unsurprisingly, Gujarat has topped the list of states across all the categories, not to forget it had also topped the ranking of World Bank’s ‘Ease of Doing Business’ with a score of 71.14 percent.’

-Gujarat has topped the index with a strong display in various sub-pillars such as Export promotion policy, Business Environment and Infrastructure.

-Gujarat, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu have managed to score high in India Innovation Index with a dedicated emphasis on crucial factors such as business ecosystem, investment on R&D etc50. These states have struck a balance by attaining relative competitiveness by driving innovation and thus boosting their overall export figures. An additional advantage that these states enjoy is the strong presence of industrial clusters that ensure producers remain competitive which further enhances their innovative tendencies. This balance between competitiveness, innovation and strong export performance needs to be replicated across the nation.

-In Policy pillar, Gujarat stands second to Maharashtra. In Business Ecosystem Pillar, Gujarat is on the top followed by Delhi and Tamil Nadu. In Export Ecosystem Pillar, Gujarat stands on 9th place after Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Telangana, Haryana, Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh. In Export Performance Pillar, Gujarat is on the second place after Mizoram.

-On college linked Research and Development (R&D), the report suggests that Gujarat, which has performed exceedingly well in majority of the sub-pillars, has severely under performed in this particular scenario. The state’s ratio of professional colleges stands at 0.7 percent, which is poorer even in comparison with other well-performing states such as Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka. Maharashtra’s figure stands at 2 percent. On the other hand, Gujarat’s ratio of research institutes stands at 0.04 percent, while that of a state such as Rajasthan stands almost close to 1.49 percent. This leaves scope for Gujarat to boost its R&D infrastructure, which could complement and sustain the high business growth in the state. This will further accelerate the innovation process in the state and better their quality of exports.

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