Telangana ranks 12th in corruption, AP at 13th

Hyderabad: Corruption continues to be a significant impediment for investors in the two Telugu states with Telangana ranking at 12th closely followed by Andhra Pradesh at 13th place among 21 states ranked by the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) in its 2017 report.

New Delhi-based NCAER released its State Investment Potential Index (N-SIPI 2017) study report recently. Into its second edition now, the index ranks states on their competitiveness in business and the investment climate therein.

As part of the exercise, NCEAR carried out a survey on issues related to infrastructure, labour, economy and governance. It questioned respondents on corruption in each state under the governance-related issues.

According to the survey report, as many as 47.2 per cent respondents admitted that there was moderate corruption in Telangana while 5.6 per cent said corruption was severe in the newest State. That means 52.8 per cent of the respondents more than a half- admitted there was corruption the State, making it 12th most corrupt state.

In the case of Andhra Pradesh, a higher chunk of 13.3 per cent respondents admitted that there was severe corruption in the State while 35.6 per cent people surveyed pointed out about moderate corruption, taking the total to 48.9 per cent and place AP at 13th position. It topped the list in 2016 study.

Tamil Nadu topped the list with a whopping 88.1 per cent people surveyed complaining about corruption while Rajasthan stood second with 76 per cent. Gujarat is the least corrupt state with just 9.1 per cent respondents blaming corruption while Chhattisgarh is the second least corrupt state with 24 per cent.

“Corruption remains the most pressing problem for business, though the severity of this problem appears to have decreased. Business sentiment is found to be optimistic and, strikingly, the next five years may see more churn in cross-border investments,” said Dr Indira Iyer, lead author of the study and Visiting Senior Fellow at NCEAR.

However, there are positive takeaways from the study for Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Telangana has improved its overall ranking by eight places to 5 from 13th position a year ago while Andhra Pradesh moved up from 4 in 2016 to 3rd place now. Gujarat and Delhi retained first and second places in the overall rankings respectively.

Telangana also ranked high in law and order. “Gujarat, Telangana and Haryana are seen to be the best states for maintenance of law and order. On the other hand, conditions in West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh are reported as most worrisome by large number of firms,” the report said.

Both the Telugu states are doing extremely well on power supply to industrial sector. “Gujarat, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Jharkhand are seen to be states with excellent supply of power, while states that lag behind include West Bengal, Assam, Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh,” it explained.

According to the study, Telangana’s strengths are digitalised land records, high labour force participation rates and competitive wages in manufacturing. The state is ranked at the top in population in million-plus cities and perception of a favourable business climate. Its weakness is poor infrastructure.

In the case of Andhra Pradesh, the state ranks high in labour conditions, especially availability of skilled labour. It also fares well on DIPP score, perception on ease of acquiring land, number of smart cities and cargo handled. However, the average state income of AP is one of the lowest.

By P Madhusudhan Reddy