Gujarat has topped the list of 21 states with most investment potential that has been drawn up by New Delhi-based think-tank National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER). Gujarat is followed by Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. The ranking of 20 states and one union territory of Delhi was based on five pillars — labour, infrastructure, economic climate, governance and political stability, perceptions — and 51 sub-indicators. The NCAER survey puts Jharkhand at the bottom of the list, just above Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

While Gujarat topped in governance and political stability, and perceptions, Delhi ranked one in infrastructure and economic climate. Kerala topped the chart in labour issues. The report said that out of the 21 states, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand will have to do a significant amount of catching up.

The survey has covered only 21 states — Assam was the only one among the seven north-eastern states. Goa, Jammu & Kashmir and Sikkim were not taken into account. The objective of the survey was to get the industries perception on issues related to land, labour and infrastructure and governance; business climate in their respective states and various other challenges faced by the industrialist.

Industries ranked Uttarakhand (32.5%) as the least corrupt state and Tamil Nadu as the most corrupt with 100% of the survey participants voting against it.