NITI Aayog releases 3rd edition of the Export Preparedness Index 2022 for States and UTs
NITI Aayog released the third edition of the report titled ‘Export Preparedness
Index (EPI) 2022’ for States/UTs of India today. The report was released by
Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog, Shri. Suman Bery.
Throughout the post-pandemic era, Indian exports have proven their
resilience by successfully navigating the challenges thrown up by the post
pandemic supply-chain issues and geopolitical factors. To maintain this
momentum, India aims to become a global export player by promoting States and
further districts as export hubs. The EPI 2022 recognizes that by unlocking
regional competitiveness and leveraging our innate diversity, India can enhance
its export potential. The Export Preparedness Index by NITI Aayog in
association with the Institute for Competitiveness, delves deeper beyond states
and examines exports at the district level.
The EPI 2022 report seeks to empower State governments with
region-specific insights to assist decision-making, identify strengths, address
weaknesses, and foster comprehensive growth across States and UTs of India.
The comparative analysis of export preparedness among States and UTs
introduces a framework that fosters competitiveness within the country. This
index empowers stakeholders to identify strategies and improve parameters that
impact a state's exports, thereby enhancing its export competitiveness. It
provides a comprehensive analysis for policy changes and the creation of a
favourable export ecosystem using its data-driven approach. Consequently, this
edition can serve as a catalyst for competitive federalism, elevating the
export performance of every state and contributing to the nation's overall
development. It is important to note that each iteration of EPI has its own
methodology and therefore does not offer itself to comparison across editions
due to evolving factors.
The report presents a comprehensive analysis of India’s export
performance in FY22, along with its sector-specific and district-level
merchandise export trends. The EPI 2022 Report evaluates the performance of the
states across four pillars – Policy, Business
Ecosystem, Export Ecosystem, and Export Performance. The index uses 56
indicators which holistically capture the export preparedness of States and UTs
in terms of exports at both the state and district-level.
The overview of the four pillars in the index is –
·
Policy Pillar evaluates states and UTs’
performance based on its adoption of export-related policy ecosystem at a state
and district level as well as the institutional framework surrounding the
ecosystem.
·
Business Ecosystem assesses the
prevailing business environment in a state/UT, along with the extent of
business-supportive infrastructure, and a state/UTs’ transport connectivity.
·
Export Ecosystem focuses on the export-related
infrastructure in a state along with the trade support provided to the
exporters, and the prevalence of Research and Development in the state to
foster innovation.
·
Export Performance is an
output-based indicator which gauges the growth of a state’s export over the
previous year and analyses its export concentration and footprint on the global
markets.
These pillars are further based on ten sub-pillars –
Export Promotion Policy; Institutional Framework; Business Environment;
Infrastructure; Transport Connectivity; Export Infrastructure; Trade Support;
R&D Infrastructure; Export Diversification; and Growth Orientation.
The EPI 2022 Report observed that most ‘Coastal States’ have performed
well, with the states of Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Gujarat being
the top-performers in the Export Preparedness Index across the country, in all
categories of states.
The efforts of state governments in improving the policy ecosystem have
led many states to create export promotion policies and district-level export
action plans. It is noted in the report, there is a scope for improvement in
business and export ecosystem in many states which is necessary to improve
their export performance.
The report encourages state governments to create solutions to their
context-specific challenges to exports. The states can also exploit their
innate diversity by promoting products unique to them and helping them reach
the global market. Consistent investment in research and development can foster
innovation, which in turn can facilitate higher efficiency in exports, and diversification
of India’s export basket. Further efforts in identification of new markets and
exporting diversified products according to state’s competitive advantage can
help India in improving its global footprint.
The report aims to facilitate competitive federalism in the country
which creates a spirit of healthy competition among the states and encourage
peer-learning among the states. It further acknowledges that for a
comprehensive evaluation of the export preparedness of states important
indicators, such as source of origin of export data, and service exports need
to be assessed as they are currently not being captured at the sub-national
level. Using this index, states can improve on their weak areas and positively
impact their export performance.
The Export Preparedness Index 2022 report was released by Suman Bery,
Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog in the presence of Dr Arvind Virmani, Member, NITI
Aayog; BVR Subramanyam, CEO, NITI Aayog, Sanjeet Singh, Senior Advisor, NITI
Aayog and Amit Kapoor, Chairman, Institute for Competitiveness.
At the release of the report Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog, Suman Bery
stated, “As we look towards 2047 and becoming the third largest economy, we
need to focus on fostering competitiveness in service and agriculture exports along
with manufacturing. To achieve it, comparative advantages of states should be
leveraged.”
Dr Arvind Virmani, Member, NITI Aayog said, “Exporting firms are more
productive than domestic firms. Their presence contributes to creation of
demand for skilled labour, which in turn impacts the overall productivity of
the region, the revenue earned by states, quality of jobs, and industrial
infrastructure in the state.”
BVR Subramanyam, CEO, NITI Aayog also remarked, “Exports are the driving
engines of economic growth, although many states do not realize its importance.
With its pillars, sub-pillars, and indicators, this report enables the states
to learn how they can improve exports and fills the knowledge gap that exists
in terms of awareness about developing export strategies.”
Sanjeet Singh, Senior Advisor, NITI Aayog said, “This report is a great
compendium for states to look into and evaluate their approach towards
improving exports. EPI 2022 also looks into district-level export trends, state
profiles, category-wise, pillar and sub-pillar wise rankings of all states. In
addition, each state has a detailed scorecard in the report which can help them
understand their performance.”
Dr Amit Kapoor also stated, “EPI is a data-driven tool, with a robust methodology,
which aims to help states/UTs develop targeted strategies to enhance their
export competitiveness. EPI helps foster the spirit of cooperative and
competitive federalism by encouraging peer-learning and enabling them to
leverage their own strengths.”
EPI 2022 Overall Rankings
Rank |
State |
Category |
Score |
1 |
Tamil
Nadu |
Coastal |
80.89 |
2 |
Maharashtra |
Coastal |
78.20 |
3 |
Karnataka |
Coastal |
76.36 |
4 |
Gujarat |
Coastal |
73.22 |
5 |
Haryana |
Landlocked |
63.65 |
6 |
Telangana |
Landlocked |
61.36 |
7 |
Uttar
Pradesh |
Landlocked |
61.23 |
8 |
Andhra
Pradesh |
Coastal |
59.27 |
9 |
Uttarakhand |
Himalayan |
59.13 |
10 |
Punjab |
Landlocked |
58.95 |
11 |
Odisha |
Coastal |
58.84 |
12 |
Madhya
Pradesh |
Landlocked |
55.68 |
13 |
Rajasthan |
Landlocked |
54.80 |
14 |
West
Bengal |
Coastal |
53.57 |
15 |
Himachal
Pradesh |
Himalayan |
52.25 |
16 |
Goa |
UT/Small
States |
51.58 |
17 |
Jammu
and Kashmir |
UT/Small
States |
47.79 |
18 |
Delhi |
UT/Small
States |
47.69 |
19 |
Kerala |
Coastal |
44.03 |
20 |
Jharkhand |
Landlocked |
43.91 |
21 |
Assam |
Landlocked |
43.19 |
22 |
Bihar |
Landlocked |
41.06 |
23 |
Manipur |
Himalayan |
40.77 |
24 |
Andaman
& Nicobar Islands |
UT/Small
States |
40.65 |
25 |
Chhattisgarh |
Landlocked |
39.10 |
26 |
Tripura |
Himalayan |
38.30 |
27 |
Sikkim |
Himalayan |
36.86 |
28 |
Nagaland |
Himalayan |
34.63 |
29 |
Ladakh |
UT/Small
States |
31.51 |
30 |
Chandigarh |
UT/Small
States |
31.27 |
31 |
Puducherry |
UT/Small
States |
24.34 |
32 |
Meghalaya |
Himalayan |
24.24 |
33 |
Arunachal
Pradesh |
Himalayan |
19.92 |
34 |
Dadra
Nagar and Haveli & Daman and Diu |
UT/Small
States |
18.74 |
35 |
Mizoram |
Himalayan |
16.96 |
36 |
Lakshadweep |
UT/Small
States |
11.30 |
***