Ease of doing business: India ranks 130 in World Bank report

Small steps taken by the Narendra Modi government to improve ease of doing business in the country seem to be paying off. India has jumped 12 positions in World Bank’s this year’s list in which countries are ranked on their ease of doing businesses.

From last year’s 142 slot, India has jumped to 130 this year. Singapore, New Zealand and Denmark have occupied the first three spots in the list.

DIPP secretary Amitabh Kant said that he is hopeful of being named into top 50 in the coming three years. Kant further added, "We have reversed the trend by moving up and no country has moved 12 spots in a year. Major reforms are going to kick in from next year which will further improve our position.”

State Bank of India’s chief economic officer, Soumya Kanti Ghosh said, "Government has taken a lot of micro steps in the last one year and some reforms have been politically sensitive. States have also got into action...if we continue moving up the ranks at this pace we can break into the top 100 very soon."

The World Bank report also says that among all other countries, India is the one that have made maximum improvements. "India is the South Asian economy recording the biggest increase in the distance to frontier score since 2004," mentioned the report. It also took note of India’s move to cut down days take to start business.

As per the report, the biggest advancement into the Indian set-up of doing business was to give power to businesses which has taken India's ranking from 99 in 2015 to 70 in 2016.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set a target of breaking into top 50 in this ranking. Based on the business environment in the cities, the ranking has given 53 and 47 weightage to Delhi and Mumbai respectively.

The report also mentioned India’s move of eliminating the minimum capital requirement and the need to obtain a certificate to commence business operations.

"The utility in Delhi made the process for getting an electricity connection simpler and faster by eliminating the internal wiring inspection by the Electrical Inspectorate. The utility in Mumbai reduced the procedures and time required to connect to electricity by improving internal work processes and coordination," the report noted flagging two areas of improvement.
Image: indiatimes