NEW DELHI/BENGALURU:Karnataka ranks far behind Jharkhand in ease of doing business, barely making it to the top 10, with a ranking of 9. BJP-ruled Gujarat is the best place in the country to do business, says the World Bank’s ranking.
The list has the BJP-ruled states occupying four of the top five slots.
Andhra Pradesh, ruled by BJP-ally TDP, is the second best state, followed by Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan — all having BJP governments.
Reacting to the report, Additional Chief Secretary in the department of Commerce and Industries, Karnataka, Ratna Prabha said the report need not reflect the reality as the parameters for deciding the ease of doing business could differ from region to region.
“If Jharkhand is in the 3rd place much ahead of Karnataka, then why are investors not going there? What is the investment flow into Karnataka and the states that have figured ahead of us like Jharkhand? I agree there is scope for improvement with us,” Ratna Prabha said.
These rankings were provided in the report titled ‘Assessment of State Implementation of Business Reforms’ which was prepared by World Bank in association with the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), KPMG, CII and Ficci.
The exercise is aimed at promoting competition among states with a view to improving the business climate to attract domestic as well as foreign investments.
The move would also help in improving India’s overall ranking in the global Doing Business Study.
India has been placed at 142nd position among 182 nations.
Overall, World Bank said India is a difficult place to do business and concerted action and reforms are needed on several fronts to improve its ranking in the global ‘Doing Business Index’.
“The assessment recognises the fact that most states have already embarked on ambitious reform programmes or expanded their ongoing reform efforts,” Additional Secretary in DIPP, Shatrughna Singh said.