Context

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

About

What is Export Preparedness Index (EPI) 2020?

• The EPI intends to identify challenges and opportunities and encourage a facilitative regulatory framework.
• Parameters: The index ranked states on four key parameters –
  • policy
  • business ecosystem
  • export ecosystem
  • export performance
• Sub-pillars: 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.

Key-highlights of the Index

• Gujarat has topped the Niti Aayog’s Export Preparedness Index 2020 followed by Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu in the second and third place respectively.
• Coastal States: Six coastal states -- Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Karnataka and Kerala -- feature in the top ten rankings, indicating the presence of strong enabling and facilitating factors to promote exports.
• Landlocked States: Among the landlocked states, Rajasthan has performed the best, followed by Telangana and Haryana.
• Himalayan States: Among the Himalayan states, Uttarakhand topped the chart, followed by Tripura and Himachal Pradesh.
• Union Territories: Across Union Territories, Delhi has performed the best, followed by Goa and Chandigarh.
• The report stated that Chattisgarh and Jharkhand are two landlocked states that had initiated several measures to promote exports.

Fundamental Challenges

• Based on the findings of the report, export promotion in India faces three fundamental challenges:
  • intra- and inter-regional disparities in export infrastructure
  • poor trade support and growth orientation among states
  • poor R&D infrastructure to promote complex and unique exports

What needs to be done?

• There is a need to emphasise on key strategies to address these challenges:
  • a joint development of export infrastructure
  • strengthening industry-academia linkages
  • creating state-level engagements for economic diplomacy.
• To achieve the target of making India a developed economy by focusing on 'Atmanirbhar Bharat,' there is a need to increase exports from all the states and Union Territories. The EPI provides invaluable insights on how states can attain this goal.