Yogi's UP among least favourable states in terms of investment potential

Lucknow: The Yogi Adityanath government may be claiming heavens for Uttar Pradesh, but according to a survey, it is the least favourable state in terms of state investment potential.

The State Investment Potential Index (N-SIPI 2017), released by the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER), ranks Uttar Pradesh at 20^th position only ahead of one state that is West Bengal.

Uttar Pradesh, which has released its new industrial policy only recently, has nothing to cheer about as Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath might have promised to promote industrial and socio economic development, providing thousands of jobs to youths and improving the infrastructure, but the state still remains among the least favourable places of the country for the investors.

Gujarat, Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Telangana and Tamil Nadu are the top six states, respectively, in terms of business investment potential.

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Delhi, despite being the only union territory to be considered in the survey, is ranked second among the 21 states due its infrastructure, but has lagged behind on important fronts like governance and political stability.

As compared to 2016, Haryana and Telangana have made the most surprising gains moving up 12 and 8 slots up, respectively, to be ranked amongst the top five states in terms of their investment potential.

In something to cheer about for Bihar, UP and West Bengal, which are ranked as the last three states respectively in terms of investment potential, they rank higher under individual pillars. Bihar leaves many states behind on the labour pillar, while UP and West Bengal have stood tall on land and economic climate pillars, respectively.

Corruption continues to be the main constraint the businesses are facing for the second successive year after 2016. Getting approval for starting a business is the second most pressing problem the businesses are suffering in 2017 across the country.

Kerala (7^th), Maharashtra (8^th), Karnataka (9^th), Madhya Pradesh (10^th), Odisha (11^th), Uttarakhand (12^th), Rajasthan (13^th), Chhattisgarh (14^th), Himachal Pradesh (15^th), Punjab (16^th), Assam (17^th) and Jharkhand (18^th) are the other states to be ranked in the state investment potential index.