States Powering India’s Export Readiness Surge

Export preparedness as a national priority

States Powering India’s Export Readiness Surge: India’s export growth increasingly depends on the capacity of its States and Union Territories to compete globally. Recognising this shift, NITI Aayog released the Export Preparedness Index 2024, a comprehensive assessment of how well sub-national regions are positioned to drive exports.

The index evaluates the period FY22–FY24, capturing both recent export outcomes and the underlying foundations needed for future growth. It highlights regional strengths, structural gaps, and areas requiring targeted policy action.

Structure of the Export Preparedness Index

The Export Preparedness Index 2024 is built on a robust analytical framework. It uses 4 pillars, 13 sub-pillars, and 70 indicators, ensuring a balanced evaluation of policy intent and on-ground performance.

The four pillars are Export Infrastructure, Business Ecosystem, Policy and Governance, and Export Performance. Each pillar carries a defined weightage to reflect its relative importance in shaping export competitiveness.

Static GK fact: India’s first comprehensive national export strategy was articulated through the Foreign Trade Policy, which emphasises decentralised export promotion led by States.

Pillars driving export competitiveness

Export Infrastructure accounts for 20% of the index score. It measures trade logistics, industrial parks, connectivity, and access to reliable utilities that enable efficient movement of goods.

The Business Ecosystem, with the highest weightage of 40%, evaluates macroeconomic stability, cost competitiveness, availability of skilled human capital, MSME strength, and access to finance. States with diversified industrial bases perform strongly here.

Policy and Governance, weighted at 20%, assesses the presence of a State export policy, institutional capacity, regulatory compliance, and trade facilitation mechanisms.

Export Performance, also at 20%, captures actual export outcomes, diversification across products and markets, and levels of global integration.

Static GK Tip: Export diversification reduces vulnerability to global demand shocks and is a key objective of India’s long-term trade policy.

Ranking and classification of States

For meaningful comparison, States and Union Territories are grouped as Large States, Small States, North Eastern States, and Union Territories. Within each group, regions are categorised as Leaders, Challengers, or Aspirers.

Among Large States, Maharashtra emerged as the top performer, followed closely by Tamil Nadu and Gujarat. Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh also featured in the leaders’ category, reflecting improvements in infrastructure and industrial depth.

In the combined group of Small States, North Eastern States, and Union Territories, Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir, Nagaland, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, and Goa were classified as leaders.

Challengers and aspirers

Several economically significant regions were placed in the challenger category due to moderate preparedness levels. These include Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Kerala, and West Bengal, indicating scope for improvement through targeted reforms.

States such as Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Bihar, and Jharkhand were classified as aspirers, highlighting early-stage export ecosystems that require focused policy support and investment.

Among Union Territories, Delhi ranked lower and was placed in the challenger category, alongside Meghalaya, Ladakh, and Himachal Pradesh.

Districts as engines of export growth

A defining feature of the Export Preparedness Index 2024 is its emphasis on districts as the core units of export strategy implementation. This approach aligns export promotion with local clusters, value chains, and regional strengths.

Releasing the report, B V R Subrahmanyam stressed that strong domestic foundations are essential as India expands free trade and economic partnership agreements. Competitive districts, aligned with global standards, are seen as critical to sustaining export momentum.

Static GK fact: District Export Promotion Committees were institutionalised to operationalise the “One District One Product” approach across India.

Static Usthadian Current Affairs Table

States Powering India’s Export Readiness Surge: