Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru

Bengaluru, Aug 8 : Siddaramaiah-led Karnataka state has become the darling of investors in the country, according to the latest data released by the central government.

So far, Gujarat, was ranked first among all the states until 2015 in terms of interest shown by the investors in their intention to invest. But now, Gujarat has lost its position to Karnataka halfway through this calendar year.

Gujarat has received only Rs 21,309 crore worth of investment intentions during January-June 2016, while Karnataka - which tops the list - has received over thrice that amount, or Rs 67,757 crore to be exact, during the same period.

The centre, which is co-ordinating efforts to rank states on 'ease of doing business', also maintains a state-wise break-up of investment intentions in terms of industrial entrepreneur memoranda filed for de-licensed sector, letters of intent issued and direct industrial licences granted.

Interestingly, the Rs 67,757 crore worth investment intentions received by Karnataka in the first six months of 2016 was more than the Rs 64,733 crore that Gujarat had attracted in the whole of 2015, the year when it topped the all-India list in this regard.

Other leading states in terms of 'investment intentions' during January-June 2016 were Maharashtra (Rs 15,688 crore), Telengana (Rs 13,600 crore) and Chhattisgarh (Rs 8,514 crore). In 2015, the states in the top five after Gujarat were Chhattisgarh (Rs 36,511 crore), Maharashtra (Rs. 33,277 crore), Karnataka (Rs 31,668 crore) and Odisha (Rs 24,524 crore).