NITI Aayog, in collaboration with the Institute of Competitiveness released the second edition of the Export Preparedness Index (EPI) 2021 on 25 March 2022. The report is a comprehensive analysis of India’s export achievements.
- The first edition of the report was launched in August 2020.
The Export Preparedness Index ranks all States and Union Territories (UTs) on the basis of their export readiness and performance.
The EPI 2021 ranks states and UTs on 4 main pillars, 11 sub-pillars and sixty indicators. It covers across 28 states and 8 UTs.
4 Main Pillars are:
- Policy: A comprehensive trade policy provides a strategic direction for exports and imports.
- Business Ecosystem: An efficient business ecosystem can help attract investments and create an enabling infrastructure for businesses to grow.
- Export Ecosystem: This pillar aims to assess the business environment, which is specific to exports.
- Export Performance: This is the only output-based pillar and examines the reach of export footprints of states and union territories.
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
Overall Ranking of Export Preparedness Index 2021:
- According to EPI 2021, most of the ‘Coastal States’ are the best performers, with Gujarat as the top-performer.
- Gujarat ranked one for the second time in a row with highest Export Preparedness score of 78.86 while Lakshadweep ranked last with the lowest score of 2.12.
- Other coastal states such as Maharashtra and Karnataka occupy the second and third positions in the index.
Category Wise Ranking:
Use:
The index can be used by States and UTs to benchmark their performance against their peers and analyze the potential challenges to develop better policy mechanisms to foster export-led growth at the subnational level.
Challenges:
EPI 2021 brings out three major challenges to India’s export promotion.
- Intra- and inter-regional differences in export infrastructure
- Weak trade support and growth orientation across states
- Lack of R&D infrastructure to promote complex and unique exports
Goal:
The primary goal of the EPI is to instil competition among all Indian states (‘Coastal’, ‘Landlocked’, ‘Himalayan’, and ‘UTs/City-States’).
- To bring about favourable export-promotion policies, ease the regulatory framework to prompt subnational export promotion, create the necessary infrastructure for exports, and assist in identifying strategic recommendations for improving export competitiveness.