Gujarat Tops NITI Aayog Investment Friendliness Index 2026
News Alert Summary: Gujarat has secured the top rank among India’s large states in NITI Aayog’s Investment Friendliness Index 2026, followed by Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. The new index assesses investment ecosystems across all 28 states and eight Union Territories using 84 indicators covering infrastructure, business climate, regulation, policy and other factors.
NITI Aayog released its Investment Friendliness Index (IFI) 2026 report on July 17, introducing a framework designed to assess how effectively states and Union Territories create, enable and sustain an environment conducive to investment.
Gujarat ranked first among large states, followed by Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. The three were also the top three performers in the overall index, according to the official release.
The broader Top Performers category comprises Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Goa and Odisha. Under NITI Aayog's classification, jurisdictions scoring above 50 are designated Top Performers.
Gujarat Investment Friendliness Index 2026
The Investment Friendliness Index covers India's 28 states and eight Union Territories. Its framework comprises 84 indicators, combining secondary data with perception-based measures drawn from a primary survey of investors.
Performance is evaluated across eight pillars: infrastructure, business climate, resources, government policy, regulatory ease, institutional environment, financial health and environmental resilience.
NITI Aayog has also divided jurisdictions into three peer groups to account for differences in geography, economic scale and administrative structure.
Among Hilly and North-Eastern States, Uttarakhand ranked first, followed by Assam and Himachal Pradesh. In the City States and Union Territories category, Goa took the top position, followed by Delhi and Chandigarh.
Official Statements
According to NITI Aayog, the index is intended to go beyond rankings by helping identify strengths and areas requiring improvement, encouraging states to adopt best practices and supporting peer learning.
The government policy body said state-level factors including industrial land availability, physical and digital infrastructure, regulatory efficiency, institutional capacity and policy predictability can influence investment decisions.
The index follows a proposal announced in the Union Budget 2025–26 and work initiated after Prime Minister Narendra Modi tasked NITI Aayog at its ninth Governing Council meeting in July 2024 with preparing an Investment-Friendly Charter.
Why Gujarat's Investment Friendliness Index Ranking Matters
Gujarat's first-place ranking among large states places it at the forefront of NITI Aayog's latest assessment of state-level investment ecosystems.
The index could also provide policymakers with a new benchmarking tool to identify regulatory, infrastructure and institutional gaps. NITI Aayog says stronger state investment environments are important for attracting domestic and foreign investment and supporting India's broader economic growth objectives.
Key Facts at a Glance
Focus keyword: Gujarat Investment Friendliness Index 2026
Report released: July 17, 2026
Organization: NITI Aayog
Large states ranking: Gujarat first, Maharashtra second, Tamil Nadu third
Overall top performers: Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Goa and Odisha
Coverage: 28 states and 8 Union Territories
Methodology: 84 indicators across eight pillars
Current status: NITI Aayog has published the Investment Friendliness Index 2026 report.
NITI Aayog has positioned the Investment Friendliness Index as a reform and benchmarking instrument for states and Union Territories. Its state profiles are designed to help policymakers identify reform priorities and allow jurisdictions to compare their investment ecosystems with relevant peers.
