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

No comments:

Post a Comment