NEW DELHI: When it comes to wooing investors and facilitating sustained investments Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Goa and Odisha have emerged as the top performing states in the first ever ‘Investment Friendliness Index’ released by NITI Aayog on Friday.The states scored well over 50 on a scale of 1-100 in the index covering all 36 states and Union Territories (UTs), wh- ich was announced by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the 2025-26 budget.Among the hilly and northeastern states, Uttara- khand (47.5) topped the list, followed by Assam (47.3) and Himachal Pradesh (46.1). Among city states and UTs, Goa (53.1) emerged at the top, followed by Delhi (49.9) and Chandigarh (47.1).The index is based on the basis of states/UTs perfor- mance under eight pillars spread over 90 indicators covering infrastructure, busi- ness climate, resources, govt policy, regulatory ease, insti- tutional environment, fina- ncial health and enviro- nmental resilience. The index also took responses from 1,850 investors on these parameters to take their perceptions into account.Efficient port operations, favourable business climate and competitive power sector drove Gujarat (56.6) to the forefront, while Maharashtra (53.7) excelled on the back of its ability to attract significant private equity/venture ca- pital (PE/VC) investments and strong economic indic- ators. NITI Aayog vice chair- person Ashok Lahiri said that investors ultimately make location-specific decis- ions based on factors incl- uding infrastructure quality and efficiency, regulat-ory certa- inty, institutional effective- ness and availability of skilled human resources.He however, underlined that the index should not be considered as a “pure race” among states but as an indicator to understand their performance and scope for improvement. “The geopol- itical situation has enough volatility, but the time to act is now, not tomorrow or later,” said Lahiri.The index categorised states into three categories – large states, hilly and north- eastern, and city states & UTs – for a more comparative ranking. Based on their overall scores, all states/UTs were clubbed into top perf- orming (scoring above 50), frontrunners (45-50), emerging performers (40-45) and aspi- ring states (less than 40). In June, while chairing the last governing council of the central think tank, PM Narendra Modi has called for states to heed investor feedback and focus on easing compliance burden as he sou- ght to position India as an attr- active investment destination.