NITI Aayog’s Investment Friendliness Index 2026
- Context: NITI Aayog released the first ever Investment Friendliness Index (IFI) 2026 to benchmark and assess the readiness of Indian States and Union Territories (UTs) in attracting, facilitating, and sustaining domestic and foreign investments.
- The index operationalizes the macroeconomic vision of Viksit Bharat @2047 by promoting competitive and cooperative federalism at the sub-national level.
About the Investment Friendliness Index (IFI)
- Genesis and Mandate: The index was conceptualized following directives from the 9th Governing Council Meeting of NITI Aayog in 2024 and was formally announced in the Union Budget 2025-26 as a strategic reform instrument.
- Methodological Shift: Moving beyond the discontinued World Bank Ease of Doing Business framework, the IFI offers a homegrown, data-driven methodology that combines 84 objective indicators with primary investor perception surveys.
- The Eight Pillars of Evaluation: The IFI assesses 28 States and 8 Union Territories through a composite score of 100, based on 84 indicators derived from secondary data and investor perception surveys.
- It evaluates the investment ecosystem across eight core pillars critical to attracting and sustaining investments.
- Infrastructure: Physical logistics, power reliability, and digital connectivity.
- Business Climate: Efficacy of single-window clearances and operational continuity.
- Resources: Availability of industrial land, skilled labor pools, and raw materials.
- Government Policy: Policy predictability and stability over time.
- Regulatory Ease: Minimization of bureaucratic friction and compliance burdens.
- Institutional Environment: Capacity, transparency, and responsiveness of state institutions.
- Financial Health: Fiscal prudence and state-level macroeconomic indicators.
- Environmental Resilience: Sustainability and ecological compliance parameters.
