Business Environment

Data shows that Gujarat has attracted maximum number of expansion and investment interest applications this year. In fact, till May this year, proposed investments in Gujarat has crossed Rs 85,000 crore, which is more than half of proposed investments last year.
In 2011, Rs 1.42 lakh crore worth of investment was proposed in the state.
2012 doesn’t seem to be as rosy for other states, which have seen a sharp decline in their investments and number of applications for industrial licenses. States like Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and West Bengal have seen the maximum decline in proposed investment and applications for fresh industrial licenses.
An industry body recently found that of the total 227 PPP projects worth over Rs 68,000 crore under operation in India as of December 2011, Gujarat accounted for about 31 completed PPP projects worth over Rs 24,000 crore. The state has attracted the maximum investments in the power and manufacturing sectors.
An Assocham report titled ‘Investment & Growth Patterns’ said that the project implementation rate in Gujarat was way below the national average and was marginally ahead of Jharkhand. “Gujarat is lagging behind with 41.9 per cent project implementation rate, much below the national average of 53.9 per cent,” the report said.
Industry experts believe that the difference Gujarat brings on table compared to other states is the pro-active approach. “The response time for business queries is much lesser in Gujarat. The state has also has been able to modernize its infrastructure with time which makes it a stable place of investments both in manufacturing and services sectors,” said Chandrajit Banerjee, director general, CII.

With over 11 per cent share in the proposed foreign direct investment (FDI) in 2011-12, Gujarat has emerged as the third most favorite investment destination for overseas investors. An ASSOCHAM report released said that Gujarat got the second highest number of 131 FDI proposals attracting proposed investment worth Rs 20,258 crore during 2011-12. With over 27 per cent share, Odisha has emerged as the top investment destination followed by Andhra Pradesh for the period.

According to the latest study by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham), Gujarat attracted worth Rs20,258 crore of FDI proposals in 2011-12.
Of the total Rs1.78 lakh crore of FDI proposals, with over 11% share Gujarat takes the third spot, the report said. Gujarat got the second highest number of 131 FDI proposals attracting proposed investment worth Rs20,258 crore, according to a state-wise analysis of the proposed FDI and the number of FDI proposals filed in India during 2011-12.
With over 27% share in the total foreign direct investment (FDI) proposed in 2011-12, Odisha has emerged as the most favorite investment destination for overseas investors across India. Though, barely 17 FDI proposals were filed in Odisha, the state garnered lion’s share worth about Rs49,527 crore in the total FDI proposed across India, according to the Assocham analysis.
“A total of 763 FDI proposals worth over Rs1.78 lakh crore were filed across various states in India during the aforesaid period,” said Bhagyesh Soneji, chairperson of the Assocham Gujarat Council, while releasing the findings of the chamber’s analysis.
Attracting FDI proposals worth about Rs33,936 crore, Andhra Pradesh ranked second with a share of about 19% as about 70 proposals were filed by the foreign investors in the state. Chattisgarh and Karnataka ranked fourth and fifth of the top five investment destinations from the foreign investors’ point of view and got FDI proposals worth over Rs20,000 crore and Rs14,000 crore, respectively. Though at 144, Maharashtra got the highest number of FDI proposals but the state ranked sixth with proposed FDI worth over Rs12,000 crore.
Of top 20 states, West Bengal ranked 14th above states like Bihar, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Jammu and Kashmir, Assam and Kerala and managed 24 FDI proposals worth a meager Rs1,243 crore, according to the Assocham study.