According to an ASSOCHAM study on ‘Export Performance of States‘, the analyzed data between 2007-08 and 2014-15 reports that Gujarat and Maharashtra account for more than 46 percent of the merchandise consignments from the country. The top five states claim over 69 per cent of India’s entire export earnings.

• While Gujarat and Maharashtra have been vying for the top spot, the latter became the best performing states shipping goods worth USD 72.83 billion in 2014-15.
• Gujarat had export shipments of USD 59.58 billion in the same period while Tamil Nadu emerged as the third largest sourcing state with USD 27.47 billion of the consignments.
• Though Gujarat and Maharashtra have traditionally been dominating the export business because of their locational advantage in terms of coastline, their growth rate has not been as good as those of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, which are doing a lot of catching up despite being land-locked.

Cost and efficiency of the transport system is of paramount importance for the competitiveness and success of export-oriented businesses. States with coastline, seamless connectivity and port capacity with deep draft (Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh) also happen to be the leading exporters.