Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia Friday suggested bringing out a bi-annual report card on the status of infrastructure projects in states to promote competition among them.

"Once in six months you should rank the states based on their performance in the infrastructure sector. If they are good, they will attract investment, otherwise not," Ahluwalia said after releasing a report, India Infrastructure Database 2005.

Asked whether the central government would introduce disincentives for states with poor track records, such as continued failure to reduce transmission and distribution losses in the power sector, he said failure to prevent losses were in itself a disincentive.

"We, however, do have incentives like the accelerated power reforms and development programme - which provides assistance to states in investment in power sector," Ahluwalia said.

Stating that the government always stepped in to help states performing poorly, he said it was time that states too realised that creating infrastructure was for their own good as it would help attract more investment.

Ahluwalia lauded the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) for bringing out the India Infrastructure Database 2005, a two-volume reference document on infrastructure in the country.

The handbook is priced Rs.4,995.

--Indo-Asian News Service