Industry-friendly moves keep Gujarat ahead in investor perceptions

The news that Vedanta controversially chose Gujarat over Maharashtra to set up its $20-billion semiconductor manufacturing unit along with Taiwan’s Foxconn has drawn fresh attention to why the state remains popular with investors, beyond the obvious political connections.

Everything the Gujarat administration offers is also available with its neighbour Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, and now Uttar Pradesh. But Gujarat gains because it was the first to check all the boxes as far as investor-friendly policies are concerned.

The most striking of these has been its success in unbundling its power sector. This is an often forgotten story. The state’s Jyoti