Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat (in that order) lead in terms of outstanding investments, says the survey. Even within the chemicals sector, rise in outstanding investments largely reflect the mere intentions aired by state governments to set up a number of naphtha crackers, says the survey.Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka governments have made such proposals recently which seek investments from the private sector but do not propose to invest themselves, says the survey.

The phenomenon of new government projects in the form of invitations (ingeniously termed as" off-the-shelf projects") contributes even more to the count of investments in ports. Gujarat and Maharashtra lead in such investments, the surveypoints out.

While Maharashtra, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu have witnessed a 20 per cent increase in investments during the year ended 1999, Haryana, having registered a 55 per cent increase- leads in terms of growth. Interestingly, the investor-friendly posturing of the Andhra Pradesh (AP) chief minister Chandrababu Naidu has not held to improve the state's relative position.

AP attracts about eight per cent of the total investments in the country, which is remaining unchanged since 1995-96. Only about 17 per cent of the investments in Andhra Pradesh are in projects being set up by multinationals.