India jumps 30 ranks to 100th in World Bank's ease of doing business list

The report noted that India has adopted 37 reforms since 2003 with nearly half of these reforms having been implemented in the last four years.
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley (File | Reuters)
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley (File | Reuters)

NEW DELHI: India’s position in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business global rankings has jumped an impressive 30 notches to reach 100, helped by a slew of reforms unleashed over the past four years.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set a target for India to be in first 50 nations in the World Bank ranking.

“We need the states to work on their local municipalities on certain segments like easy and quick registration of building. It will help us improve India’s ranking further next year,” Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told reporters here on Tuesday.

The latest ranking is a significant achievement for India, which has been working on the 10 criteria to improve the ease of doing business. Going forward, the World Bank methodology could include a larger sample, to capture the significant improvements being made by several States, said Manish B Agarwal, partner, and leader - infrastructure, PwC India. He said that the 122 reforms done by India are yet to be recognised and another 90 are in the process of being taken into account.

“It is based on improvements done in specific sectors. The criteria are so stringent that even if you have made reforms unless the results are available at the ground level, the ranking will not improve,” Jaitley explained.

India Inc responded positively to the ranking. “CII is confident that on the back of GST and other reforms that are planned, India would see an equally impressive improvement next year,” said Chandrajit Banerjee, director-general, Confederation of Indian Industry.

“Reform at the State level has become even more important”, Pankaj Patel, president, Ficci.
Jaitley noted that for India to improve its ranking, structural reforms will have to continue at much faster pace.

“The biggest jump we have got is in the taxation department. We were 172 out of 189 countries last year. We have moved up 53 places to 119 because of the reforms in taxes,” he said. He also pointed out that small business have got the most benefit, which needs to be factored in.

“The next paradigm shift to the top 50 is still a long way ahead and will require India to maintain a strong momentum,” said Nilaya Varma, partner, and COO, infrastructure, government and healthcare, KPMG in India.

Related Stories

No stories found.
The New Indian Express
www.newindianexpress.com