ODISHA TOP FIVE STATES IN NITI AAYOG’S EXPORT PREPAREDNESS REPORT

Bureau,Odishabarta

BHUBANESWAR:”Focus on basics and continued drive to excel has led to Odisha earning a rank among top 5 states in NITI Aayog’s export preparedness report,” said Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

Mr.Patnaik said it after the Central body announced the first ever Export Preparedness Index (EPI) on Wednesday.

Odisha has excelled in many parameters like export promotion policy, infrastructure and trade support, he said.

Odisha has performed well to sail into the list of the top five states in the country in the EPI.

In a new orientation, NITI Aayog has taken a significant step by developing the export preparedness index. Among the major states, Gujarat topped the list while Odisha finished fifth, said sources.

Notably, the index ranks states and union territories on critical parameters required for promoting the country’s exports.

According to sources, Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy apart from regularly monitoring the Ease of Doing Business, keeps scrutinizing the export preparedness of the State.

Odisha has performed well in terms of providing trade support, said in his response to this significant achievement of Odisha.

The state has conducted 24 capacity building workshops to provide exposure to traders which guide the latter into adopting best practices in exports, said Principal Secretary Hemant Sharma.

Further, it is one of the top five states in terms of strengthening its research and development infrastructure, said Mr.Sharma.

Gujarat has emerged as the top-performing state in the ‘Coastal States’ category, followed by Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Odisha.

Though among coastal states Odisha ranks fourth, in overall ranking it is in the fifth position.

The export preparedness index would be useful to states and union territories to benchmark their performance against their peers and analyze the potential challenges and prospects to develop better policy mechanisms to foster export-led growth. This has put the state at an advantage among others in this pillar.

The EPI is a data-driven effort to identify the core areas crucial for export promotion at the sub-national level.

All the states and union territories have been assessed on crucial parameters that are critical for any typical economic unit to achieve sustainable export growth, the officials added.The Index would be a helpful guide for the state governments to benchmark regional performance with respect to export promotion and thus deliver key policy insights on how to improve and enhance the same.

The EPI is the first of its kind; hence, it is expected to be refined over time, and improvements made to the methodology and evaluation process in the coming years.