New Delhi, Feb 5 (IANS): The government on Tuesday said it is planning to launch an index to rank states on the basis of 'ease of doing agri-business'.

Minister of State for Agriculture Parshottam Rupala informed the Lok Sabha, in a written reply, that a need was felt to develop a competitive spirit between the states to ensure that the reform agenda of the government was implemented at a desired pace.

"Keeping this in mind to rank the states through an Index i.e. Ease of Doing Agri-Business, a concept note along with parameters for developing an Index has been circulated to all States/UTs inviting their views," he said.

The concept is to consider farming not solely as a production-oriented activity carried out to achieve food security for the country, but as a business activity carried out by farmer as entrepreneur, Rupala noted.

"The proposed index has taken the aspects of increasing production/productivity, increasing price realisation of agri produce and decreasing input costs of production, risk mitigation and investment related attributes.

"The index will obviously help in fostering agriculture among states by promoting a competitive spirit amongst the states," he added.