New Delhi, July 18 -- States will play an increasingly important role in attracting private investment and driving India's long-term economic growth, with NITI Aayog's newly launched Investment Friendliness Index intended to serve as a reform tool to strengthen state-level investment ecosystems rather than merely rank their performance, according to the report.

The report said achieving the vision of Viksit Bharat by 2047 will require a sustained increase in productive investments, with state governments expected to play a larger role in improving ease of doing business, infrastructure, policy predictability and regulatory efficiency to attract domestic and global investors.

"The Investment Friendliness Index has been developed to under...