Photo Courtesy: India Today Group
Guwahati: Assam has claimed the top spot in the Northeast according to NITI Aayog's inaugural Investment Friendliness Index. The state ranks 14th nationally with a score of 47.3. It finished behind Uttarakhand at 47.5. Tripura followed closely with 45.0. Meghalaya and Nagaland earned the title of Emerging Performers, while Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, and Manipur landed in the Aspiring States category.
Assam's success comes from solid policy and fiscal management. The report praised its low labour disruption and high road infrastructure spending. Between 2019 and 2024, the state spent 8% of its annual budget on roads, dwarfing the 3% national average. It also poured 18% of its budget into education. Despite this, the state trails in creating a technical workforce. NITI Aayog noted, "the addition of new technical workers remaining below the national average."
Financial health remains a bright spot for the state. Interest payments hit just 2.8% of the Gross State Domestic Product. This is 24% lower than the regional average for hilly and northeastern states. Nationally, Goa, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Odisha, and Tamil Nadu swept the top ranks.
Medical education faces a tougher path. NTA data for NEET-UG 2026 reveals a slide in qualified candidates across most of the Northeast. Assam remains the regional leader with 18,435 students passing, though this is a drop from 19,809 in 2025. In total, 43,187 students registered in Assam and 36,283 took the test.
Other states struggled. Arunachal Pradesh dropped to 2,179 qualifiers from 2,645. Manipur fell to 5,070, while Tripura plummeted to 1,807. Meghalaya saw a slight dip to 1,658. Sikkim slipped to 579. Mizoram and Nagaland defied the trend. Mizoram rose to 1,353 qualifiers, and Nagaland climbed to 1,946. Nationally, over 11 million students qualified for medical school this year.
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