Tuesday 19 November 2019

Importance of Asset Allocation

Market participants have seen extreme volatility in Indian capital markets. There have been many incidents both global and domestic which have led to a fall in the indices. At this point, we are facing a Nationwide Contagion Effect.



Some of the factors contributing to the market turbulence are as follows

  • US-China Trade War
  • NBFC Crisis following the IL&FS fiasco in domestic market
  • Prolonged slowdown in critical sectors of the economy like Auto and Realty
  • Asset quality issues, NPA’s which haunt Public Sector Banks
  • Corporate governance issues, Audit failures and credit rating agencies failure to red flag critical issues


In this era of VUCA – Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity, our main focus is on risk mitigation and protection of principal. Return Of Capital rather than Return On Capital is the underlying motive. We will be exposed to Market Risk at all times, however Individual Company Risk can be Mitigated by Diversification & Asset Allocation.


The two main traditional assets are Debt and Equity. The asset classes are evaluated with respect to liquidity, safety, yield, image, appreciation and growth. Equity asset class is high risk high reward where there is possibility of high appreciation. In the case of debt returns are stable and tend to be lower with high degree of safety

A proper Asset Allocation based on the clients Risk profile is the most suitable and apt method.

Our Aim is to allocate risk to different Instruments / Assets.

Based on our research, The following Data shows us how diversification and Strategic Asset Allocation would have benefited the client. (All data shown below are as on 30 October 2019)







Market has shown a positive trend in the recent Months. There have been many positive aspects as well like Reduction in tax rates for Corporate Firms (22% for Domestic Companies & 15% for new manufacturing companies).The central bank cut the repo rate by 25 bps  to 5.15% and the reverse repo by 25 bps to 4.90% (100 bps = 1 per cent).







Based on this Allocation, the Investor has managed to diversify his risk to different categories of Asset Classes. There is equal Allocation to each Asset Class.









Based on this Allocation, The investor has been aggressive and is willing to withstand the Risk of Market Volatility. He has been able to generate Positive returns in all Periods.







Gold acts as a Hedge during Uncertain events. Gold has a negative Correlation with the traditional Asset Classes (Debt & Equity).The demand for gold increases during inflationary times due to its inherent value and limited supply.








Increased Allocation towards Debt helps the Investor earn Stable Return as compared to Equity & Gold. Returns maybe lower due to lower Returns.

Conclusion: Asset Allocation is Important for every Individual. Market Risk & Business Risk is something which every Investor goes through. Thus our main aim is Capital Protection and Risk Aversion. During Volatile Periods like now, we fear about Capital Erosion. Thus a hedge can be done via investing in different Asset Classes with low Correlation with each Other.

Latin Manharlal Group

Wednesday 13 November 2019

Sweet Smell of Success in Floriculture


With the domestic demand for flowers growing at 25% annually and offshore demand rising as fast, theres a great need for qualified individuals in this high potential agri-industry. It could be roses all the way for youth who opt for careers in floriculture. Incrementally people — especially within Indias expanding middle class — are saying what they have to say with flowers on birthdays, anniversaries, Valentines Day, Mothers Day etc. Little wonder, the floriculture industry, one of the most high-potential sectors in Indian agriculture, is in full bloom.
Floriculture, the art and knowledge of growing flora or flowers, is no longer the preferred hobby of retirees; its a fast growing sunrise industry. With the domestic demand for flowers of all shapes and hues growing at 25% annually and offshore demand rising as fast, even the somnolent government of India has woken up and accorded the floriculture industry 100 percent export-oriented status to help develop the country into an international hub of flower production, auction, distribution, and retailing.


However, despite being blessed with a facilitating agro-climatic profile, vast land resources, and availability of abundant labour and agricultural scientists, Indias share of the global floriculture market is a negligible 0.19%. But with several brave entrepreneurs establishing export-oriented floriculture units under controlled climatic (i.e greenhouse) conditions, India is slowly but surely making an impact in the international floriculture market centred in Netherlands.
Currently the states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Haryana are in the vanguard, with Kerala producing cut flowers and ornamental plants for domestic consumption. Fortuitously, India hosts many exclusive varieties of ornamental flowers, usually exported in the form of seeds or capsules. Roses, marigolds, chrysanthemum, and jasmine are among the popular varieties and about 10,000 hectares of total cultivated area in the country is devoted to growing them.
MARIGOLD BLOOMS. A typical example of a successful new genre of floriculturist is Megha Borse, a pioneer woman entrepreneur who has transformed her five-acre farm on the Nasik-Indore road into an export-oriented floriculture unit. Known as the ‘flower power woman of Nasik, Borses farm — Sheelman Flora — which blooms with marigolds the year round, attracts hundreds of visitors from around the country.
In 2004, there were only 10 flora farms in Nasik. Since then, 10–15 are being promoted every year.  Farmers here are being motivated to grow flowers on part of their land and have promised to take charge of marketing their produce.
Starting with a 1,008 sq mt poly-house in 2004 with an investment of Rs.10 lakh, Borse now has three greenhouses yielding 600,000 flowers per year and has acquired the reputation of a knowledgeable floriculture consultant. Borse also represents Maharashtra in an apex committee constituted by the Union ministry of agriculture, and with the floriculture industry all set to bloom, she believes theres growing demand for qualified individuals in this high-potential agri-industry. This is one of the best career options for graduates who dont necessarily have to be highly qualified horticulturists to enter this field. Practical experience of a greenhouse and enthusiasm for the subject is good enough for starters. The Horticultural Training Centre near Talegaon set up with Dutch collaboration imparts an excellent five-day training programme in greenhouse management. If several such training centres are provided, establishing floriculture units will become much easier. That is one way to enjoy the sweet smell of success.
Image Courtesy: Google

Latin Manharlal Group

Monday 3 June 2019

Story of Taneira - A Tata Product


Taneira, the youngest brand of Titan Company Limited was conceived during internal crowdsourcing of ideas around 2015. Multiple teams suggested sarees as a product category and rigorous rounds of evaluation finally resulted in sarees as the winner for a pilot project. Sarees was a natural extension of Titan's value proposition: design-led lifestyle brands that enable self-expression - Titan, Tanishq, Raga, Fastrack among others and now Taneira.

Derived from the word 'tan' meaning body and 'Eira', the Sanskrit name for Goddess Saraswathi (Patron God of art, music, craft, and knowledge) and meaning 'earth' in Greek, Taneira aims to provide the rooted yet progressive Indian woman with exclusive design, diverse workmanship, the authenticity of handcraft, pure and natural fibers: the best of India under one roof.

There's something about Titan Company that refuses to let it rest on retail laurels secured. The urge to expand into and explore new terrain, with due diligence and without undue complications, typifies an enterprise that has established its presence in watches, jewelry, accessories, and eyewear. Titan has now made time to take a taste of the ethnic-wear business. 
Tapping into India’s rich traditions in ethnic weaves and clothes appears to be a natural progression for Titan. It is the basis for its latest venture, Taneira, which is all about garments sourced from the cultural heartlands of the country. The jewel in this collection is the saree—that enduring and exquisite icon of grace and elegance.

Titan is looking to turn the largely unorganized saree business into an organized one by catering to the mid-premium to the premium segment of the market with a starting price of Rs 2,000, which can go up to Rs 2 lakh. The brand competes with organized saree retail chains such as Nalli Silk as well as Meena Bazaar. Sarees—as a category—is exciting but equally challenging because it is stock keeping unit (SKU) intensive, assortment sensitive and has design complexity.

The first Taneira store, housed in a remodeled villa in Bengaluru's Indira Nagar, recently opened its doors to business. Sarees are the main draw here. They come from 20 different states of the country, each of them handwoven, and made from natural fibers such as cotton, silk, and linen.






The Taneira team traveled the length and breadth of India to bring under one roof a fabulous collection that includes mugas from Assam; cotton from Chettinad; tussars from Bhagalpur; ikats from Gujarat; Andhra Pradesh and Orissa; chikankari from Lucknow; classical Banarasi silks and kanjeevarams; and heirloom pieces like Patan patolas from Gujarat and muslin jamdanis from Bengal.

Attractive prices

The store also sells lehengas, stoles, ready-to-wear blouses and exclusive yardage that can be converted into any kind of garment. Prices have been calibrated to attract the widest possible base of consumers, with the cost of a saree ranging from Rs 2,000 to 250,000 (this for the stunning Patan patola version).

A second Taneira store is set to open soon — in Bengaluru's Jayanagar area — and the company is in the process of unrolling exhibitions all over the country to spread the message of the new brand among consumers.

Taneira aims to deliver a differentiated retail experience. It's a place where customers can touch and feel the purity of the fabric and admire the craft that goes into their making. Taneira offers is unique in many ways. Take, for instance, those who may not buy a piece at first chance, but then change their mind and return, only to find it gone. 

Taneira is aiming to double its existing business to touch Rs 40-45 crore in revenue in 2019, said the company’s managing director Bhaskar Bhat at the launch of brand’s biggest flagship store in New Delhi. Our primary target is to open 10 stores in the next 12-18 months in the top 15 cities of the country. Currently, we are doing between Rs 30 lakh and Rs 70 lakh a month per store. The company will end this year with Rs 20 crore in revenue, which we want to more than double and take it to Rs 45 crore by next year

Titan wants to reach not just the metros but also Tier I cities where demand for high-quality branded sarees is increasing. The company is looking to open stores in cities such as Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, Patna, Lucknow and Indore.

Similar to the jewelry market, when Titan began, The 5,000-year-old category is a large, unorganized market and underserved in terms of the authenticity of the product. With an average ticket size of Rs 8,000, Kanchipuram (handwoven silk sarees from Tamil Nadu), Benarasi (silk sarees from Varanasi), Bhagalpur (silk sarees from Bihar) and south silks are the top-selling varieties of sarees at Taneira. The brand is sourcing its products from over 400 weavers’ communities and cooperative societies across India.


Latin Manharlal Group

Thursday 2 May 2019

Impact of Demonetisation and GST on India’s GDP Growth in the Last Two Years


GDP in India is considered as an important growth rate through which the growth of the country can be accessed. It measures the total amount of goods and services in the country. It gets calculated in three ways – Production, Income, and Expenditure approach.

India’s Gross Domestic Product grew 7.3 percent in 2018 in comparison to last year. The GDP per capita of India in 2018 was USD 2,009, USD 66 higher than in 2017, it was USD 1,943.

India was worth 2600.82 billion US dollars in 2017. The GDP value of India represents 4.19 percent of the world economy. GDP in India averaged 545.87 USD Billion from 1960 until 2017, reaching an all-time high of 2600.82 USD Billion in 2017 and a record low of 36.54 USD Billion in 1960.

The condition of the country is not very good nowadays, the GDP rate has fallen. The 2 major causes for the same could be Demonetization and implementation of GST. Both factors have impacted the economic condition of the country.

Demonetization includes the forced conversion of cash into less liquid bank deposits, which generates a decline in employment, output, and borrowing by firms in the presence of downward wage rigidity. Households also get forced to move to noncash forms of payment to attenuate the impact of the cash shortage.

The immediate process of Demonetization has affected the country’s growth in various sectors including transport, communication, real estate, manufacturing, professional services, etc. It affected the demand by reducing the supply of money and constrained the availability of cash as a critical input for specific economic activities.

The most impacted areas were construction and manufacturing, the growth of the construction sector fell to 3.7 percent from 6 percent and the manufacturing growth 8.2 from 12.7 in the time periods.

On the other hand, there was a huge impact on the agriculture sector as well. The growth for the same went down to 5.2 percent from 6.9 percent. The impact turned out to be the massive increase in the price of seeds and fertilizers and the farmers are getting unable to handle these additional expenses. The real estate sector saw the money funding and transactions completely dead. The demands for lands and properties dropped very badly. The investment from foreign institutions decreased dramatically.

Even the digital payments schemes, promotions, discount offers could not ease the impact on the consumer durable markets.

The GST implementation has also made a huge difference and lead to the massive increase in the price of the basic items of a citizen, that made the demand and supply cut down pathetically. The stock market growth is declined by the reforms. On the other side, GST turned out to be a transparent method that avoids various other taxes and makes the consumers to pay a single tax, it reduces the tax burden between manufacturing and delivering services. It sometimes makes the products expensive though.

To conclude, it can be said that the cashless limit describes economies with well-developed financial markets and cash continues to serve an essential role in facilitating economic activity in modern India. Demonetization was implemented to avoid black money and corruption and it is much effective. The problems that decline GDP rate should be resolved and make the country economy people friendly.


Latin Manharlal Group

Tuesday 16 April 2019

Wholesale Price Index for ‘All Commodities’ for the month of March, 2019

Based on monthly  WPI, the annual rate of inflation, stood at 3.18%  (provisional) for the month of March 2019(over March 2018)  as compared to 2.93%  (provisional) for the month of February 2019  and 2.74%  during  March 2018 previous year.  The buildup inflation rate in the financial year so far was 3.18%as compared to a buildup rate of 2.74%in the corresponding period of the previous year.

Primary articles: The  index  for ‘Food  Articles group rose  by  0.9  percent  to  145.1  (provisional)  from  143.8  (provisional)  for  the  previous month  due  to  higher  price  of  peas/Chawla  (7%),  fruits  &  vegetables  (6%),  maize and jowar  (3%each),  bajra  (2%)and Masur  (1%). However, three was a decline in the price of fish-marine (6%),  egg  (5%),  gram  (3%),  mutton,  urad and condiments  & spices (2%each)and rajma, ragi, wheat, arhar and poultry chicken  (1%each).

The  index  for ‘Non-Food  Articles group declined  by  2.6  percent  to  123.5  (provisional)  from  126.8  (provisional)  for  the previous  month  due  to  lower  price of  industrial  wood  (16%),  raw  silk  (7%),  sunflower  (4%),  rape  &  mustard  seed  (3%), gingelly  seed and safflower  (kardi  seed)  (2%each)and soyabean,  floriculture,  copra  (coconut) and coir  fibre  (1%each). However, there was appreciation in the price of niger seed (15%), raw rubber and raw cotton (4%each), raw wool (2%)and groundnut seed, fodder, castor seed, mesta, raw jute, linseed and hides (raw) (1%each).

Minerals: The index declined  by  1.9 percent to 136.7  (provisional)  from  139.3  (provisional)  for the previous month due to lower price of manganese ore and iron ore (8%each), sillimanite (7%), limestone and chromite (2%each)and lead concentrate and zinc concentrate (1%each). However, the price of garnet (12%)and copper concentrate (1%) increased.

Crude  Petroleum  &  Natural  Gas: The index rose by 3.3 percent to 87.6 (provisional) from 84.8 (provisional) for the previous month due to higher price of crude petroleum (6%).  However, the price of natural gas (2%) declined. The index rose by 2.3percent  to  103.3(provisional)  from 101.0(provisional) for the previous month. 

Mineral  Oils: The index rose  by  4.1  percent  to  95.0(provisional)  from  91.3  (provisional)  for  the  previous month  due  to  higher  price  of ATF,  naphtha and furnace  oil (9%each), LPG(6%), kerosene (5%), petrol (4%), petroleum coke (3%), HSD(2%)and bitumen (1%). The rose by 0.2 percent to 118.3  (provisional)  from 118.1 (provisional) for the previous month.

Manufacture of  Food  Products: The  index declined  by  0.2  percent  to  128.5  (provisional)  from  128.7 (provisional)  for  the  previous  month  due  to  lower  price  of  manufacture  of  macaroni,  noodles,  couscous &similar farinaceous products (5%), copra oil  (4%), processing &preserving of fish,crustaceans &molluscs&products thereof and rice  bran  oil  (3%each),  processing &preserving  of  fruit &vegetables and palm  oil  (2%each)and cottonseed  oil,  sooji (rawa),  soyabean  oil,  gram  powder  (besan),  buffalo  meat [fresh/frozen],  spices  (including  mixed  spices),  salt,  vanaspati, mustard  oil,  sunflower  oil,  manufacture  of  cocoa,  chocolate &sugar  confectionery,  ghee and maida  (1%each). However, there were certain items which moved up as the  price  of  molasses  (13%),  groundnut oil (10%), honey (4%), processed tea, condensed milk and manufacture of starches and  starch  products  (3%each),  coffee  powder  with  chicory,  castor  oil, instant coffee, chicken/duck [dressed-fresh/frozen]and manufacture of health supplements (2%each)and manufacture of prepared animal feeds, bagasse, gur, manufacture of processed ready to eat food, manufacture of bakery products and wheat bran (1%each).


The rate of inflation based on  WPI  Food Index consisting of ‘Food  Articles’ from  Primary  Articles group and ‘Food Product’ from Manufactured Products group increased from 3.29% in February, 2019as compared to 3.89% in March 2019.

Latin Manharlal Group
Image Courtesy: Google

Thursday 14 February 2019

India now 6th Largest Economy in the World with High Growth

India under the leadership of the Prime Minister,  Narendra Modi, has witnessed its best phase of macro-economic stability, becoming the sixth largest economy in the world from being the 11th in the World in 2013-14. Presenting the Interim Budget for the year 2019-20 in Parliament, the Union Minister for Finance, Corporate Affairs, Railways & Coal, Piyush Goyal said “India is the fastest growing major economy in the world” with an average GDP growth  of 7.3% per annum, the highest ever achieved by any Government since economic reforms began in 1991.


New India would celebrate its 75th Independence year in 2022 when every family would have a house with access to water, electricity and toilets; farmers income would have doubled; and the country would be free from terrorism, communalism, corruption and nepotism,Goyal added.

Goyal said the fiscal deficit has been brought down to 3.4% in 2018-19 Revised Estimates from the high of 5.8% in 2011-12 and 4.9 % in 2012-13,outlining the broad picture of the State of the Economy. The average inflation has been brought down to 4.6% from the high of 10.1% during 2000-2014. The inflation was only 2.19% in December 2018.  The Current Account Deficit (CAD) is likely to be only 2.5% of GDP this year, against a high of 5.6% six years ago.

Due to strong fundamentals and stable regulatory regime,  the country  attracted $239 billion as Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) during the last five years.  Goods and Services Tax (GST) as a path breaking next generation structural tax reform undertaken by the Government.

Goyal said the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code has institutionalised a resolution-friendly mechanism and  nearly Rs. 3 lakh crores  has been recovered by Banks and creditorswhile highlighting the Banking Reforms. He said high stressed non-performing assets (NPAs) amounted to Rs. 5.4 lakh crore in 2014.  Since 2015, numerous Asset Quality Reviews and inspections were carried out, and the 4Rs approach of recognition, resolution, re-capitalisation and reforms has been followed.  Highlighting the restoration of the health of the Public Sector Banks, the Finance Minister said that recapitalisation has been done with an investment of Rs. 2.6 lakh crore.

The Finance Minister mentioned about The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 (RERA) and Benami Transaction (Prohibition) Act. He said the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018 is helping to confiscate and dispose off the assets of economic offenders, who escape the jurisdiction of the country.  The Government conducted transparent auction of natural resources including coal and spectrum.

Swachhata Mission launched by the present government led by Narendra Modi, the country achieved nearly 98% rural sanitation coverage with  as many as 5.45 lakh villages being declared open defecation freesaid Goyal.

To ensure 10% reservation in educational institutions and Government jobs for economically weaker sections, the Government will provide for 25% extra seats i.e. around 2 lacs, while maintaining the existing reservation for SC/ST/Other Backward Classes.

The Finance Minister said about Rs 1,70,000 crore was spent in 2018-19. Rs 60,000 crore has been allocated for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in the Budget Estimate of 2019-20 to provide food grains at affordable prices to the poor and middle classes.


Latin Manharlal Group

Tuesday 15 January 2019

India poised to become Third-Largest Consumer Market


India is poised to become the third-largest consumer market behind only the US and China. The consumer spending in India is expected to grow from USD 1.5 trillion at present to nearly USD 6 trillion by 2030, a report of World Economic Forum said.

As per the WEP, with an annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate of 7.5 per cent, India is currently the world's sixth-largest economy. Domestic private consumption, which accounts for 60 per cent of the country's GDP, is expected to develop into a USD 6-trillion growth opportunity by 2030.

The report further added, "If realised, this would make India's consumer market the third-largest in the world, behind the US and China."

Zara Ingilizian, Head of Consumer Industries and Member of Executive Committee, WEF, said "as India continues its path as one of the world's most dynamic consumption environments, private and public-sector leaders will have to take shared accountability to ensure such consumption is inclusive and responsible. Notwithstanding the significant growth in consumption, critical societal challenges will need to be addressed, including skills development and employment of the future workforce, socio-economic inclusion of rural India, and creating a healthy and sustainable future for its citizens.”

The report 'Future of Consumption in Fast-Growth Consumer Market India' mentioned that growth of the middle class will lift nearly 25 million households out of poverty.

According to the report, growth in income will transform India from a "bottom of the pyramid economy" to a middle class-led one.

As expected the future consumption growth will mainly come from rich and densely populated cities and the thousands of developed rural towns.

WEF said that, "India's top 40 cities will form a USD 1.5 trillion opportunity by 2030, many thousands of small urban towns will also drive an equally large spend in aggregate. In parallel, there will be an opportunity to unlock nearly USD 1.2 trillion of spends in developed rural areas by improving infrastructure and providing access to organised and online retail."

The report was produced in collaboration with Bain & Company builds on consumer surveys conducted across 5,100 households in 30 cities and towns in India, and draws from more than 40 interviews with private and public-sector leaders.

Nikhil Prasad Ojha, Partner and Leader of the Strategy practice at Bain India said, "It's an exciting future for firms that wish to unlock the consumption opportunity in India."

The report identified three critical societal challenges that need to be addressed to unlock the potential of these opportunities and to ensure equitable growth - skills development and employment for the future workforce, socio-economic inclusion of rural India and healthy and sustainable future.


Image Courtesy: Google
Latin Manharlal Group

Sunday 6 January 2019

Purchasing Managers’ Index signals a Sparkling Continuous Expansion


Purchasing Managers’ Index is an indicator of business activity both in the manufacturing and services sectors. PMI in October 2018 stood at 53.1 as against 50.3 in October 2017. October 2018 is the 15th consecutive month of PMI>50, indicating growth in the manufacturing sector.

The Start-up India is a flagship initiative of the Government of India, intended to build a strong ecosystem that is conducive for the growth of start-up businesses, to drive sustainable economic growth and generate large scale employment opportunities. The Government through this initiative aims to empower start-ups to grow through innovation and design.

DIPP recognized start-ups number touched 14,545 in November 18 as compared to 4610 on October 2017 generating total employment for 130,424 persons.

Number of programmes have been undertaken since the launch of the initiative on 16th of January 2016 by Prime Minister, to transform India into a country of job creators instead of job seekers.

 The 19-Point Start-up India Action Plan envisages several incubation centres, easier patent filing, tax exemptions, ease of setting-up of business, a Rs. 10,000 crore corpus fund and a faster exit mechanism.

The achievements of the Start-up India action plan can be stated as: simplification and hand holding for compliance regime based on self-certification, rolling out of mobile app and portal, setting up of Start-up India hub, legal support and fast-tracking patent examination at lower costs, relaxed norms of public procurement for start-ups and faster exit for start-ups,  providing funding support through fund of funds with a corpus of Rs. 10,000 crore, tax exemption on capital gains, tax exemption to start-ups for 3 years, removal of angel tax, promoting industry-academia partnership and incubation through launch of Atal Innovation Mission, harnessing private sector expertise for incubator setup, building 11 Technology Business Incubators, setting up of 7 new research parks modelled on the research park setup at IIT Madras, promoting start-ups in the biotechnology sectors and launching of innovation focused programmes for students.

Image Courtesy: Google
Latin Manharlal Group

Wednesday 2 January 2019

India Improves Ranking in Ease of Doing Business


India jumped 23 ranks in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Ranking this year to be ranked at 77. Upward move of 53 ranks in the last two years is the highest improvement in 2 years by any large country since 2011. India now ranks number one in Ease of Doing Business Report among South Asian countries compared to 6th in 2014.

So far, India has improved its rank in 6 out of 10 indicators and has moved closer to international best practices (Distance to Frontier score) on 7 out of the 10 indicators. The most dramatic improvements have been registered in the indicators related to construction permits and trading across borders. India's rank improved from 181 in 2017 to 52 in 2018, in grant of construction permits, an improvement of 129 ranks in a single year. When comes to trading across borders, India's rank has improved by 66 positions, moving from 146 in 2017 to 80 in 2018.

The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion ,Ministry of Commerce and Industry, in collaboration with the World Bank conducts an annual reform exercise for all States and Union Territories under the Business Reform Action Plan (BRAP) to improve delivery of various Central Government regulatory functions and services in an efficient, effective and transparent manner. States and UTs have conducted reforms to ease their regulations and systems in areas like labour, environmental clearances, construction permits, contract enforcement, registering property and inspections. The States have also enacted Public Service Delivery Guarantee Acts to enforce the timelines on registrations and approvals.

Ease of Doing Business ranking improved, and it has been possible because of the transformative measures taken by the Government of India which includes legislative and regulatory reforms. To support start-ups and lower tax rates for MSMEs quicker environmental clearances from 600 days to 140 days has been implemented, abolition of inter-state check post after implementation of GST has been done, enhanced input tax credit and electronic GST network has been put in place and the creation of commercial courts to fast track enforcement of contracts and faster security clearances has lent support to the start-ups in the country.

Among BRICS countries, India has improved its rank from 5th in 2010 to 3rd in 2018. Various measures were undertaken to ensure this improved ranking is issuance of construction permits where India’s rank is 52, in getting electricity connection India’s rank is 24 and in Trading Across Borders India now ranks at 84. In paying taxes India’s ranking is 121 and in resolving insolvency India’s ranking stands at 108.

For ease of doing business for start-ups Twenty-One regulatory changes have been made. For optimization of resource utilisation and enhance the efficiency of the manufacturing sector, DIPP launched the Industrial Information System, a GIS-enabled database of industrial areas and clusters across the country in May 2017. This portal serves as a one-stop solution to the free and easy accessibility of all industrial information including availability of raw material – agriculture, horticulture, minerals, natural resources, distance from key logistic nodes, layers of terrain and urban infrastructure.

IPRS is proposed to be translated into an annual exercise covering all the parks across India. The coverage would be widened and updated to bring in deeper qualitative assessment feedback, bring in technological intervention and develop it as a tool that helps effectively for demand driven and need based interventions both by policy makers and investors.


Image Courtesy: Google
Latin Manharlal Group