## Friday, September 21, 2007

### How states are faring on investment

Ila Patnaik summarises the CMIE Capex data on investment projects at hand in the states of India. The ranking, by the value of `under implementation' projects expressed per capita, is most interesting. It makes us think afresh, and challenge many preconceptions, about which states are doing well and which states aren't.

A surprising feature of the data is the remarkably poor showing of Maharashtra. This is a failure of the politicians. As Sunil Sethi says in Business Standard today:

In its edgy, manic way, Mumbai prided itself on being the more organised of Indian cities, devoted to the work ethic, the go-getting glamour capital of the country. This is no longer true. It is now more ramshackle than Kolkata, more inefficient than Delhi and, probably, neither as rich nor as inventive as Bangalore or Hyderabad. Its cosmopolitan ethos and egalitarian energy has been hobbled by provincial-minded politicians, sectarian ideology and pick-pocket capitalism.

Please note: LaTeX mathematics works. This means that if you want to say $10 you have to say \$10.