NITI Aayog has released its first-ever report on the Investment Friendliness Index (IFI), a homegrown framework that measures how ready States and Union Territories are to attract, facilitate and retain domestic and foreign investment. It scores them on eight pillars: infrastructure, business climate, resources, government policy, regulatory ease, institutional environment, financial health and environmental resilience. Gujarat ranked first, followed by Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Goa and Odisha. Among hilly and North-Eastern States, Uttarakhand led, ahead of Assam and Himachal Pradesh, while Delhi and Chandigarh topped the Union Territories and city-States group.