VIJAYAWADA: Andhra Pradesh stands on top in the Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) rankings among all states in the country. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the rankings in Delhi on Saturday through videoconference in the presence of Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and industries ministers of all states.
The Department of Industrial Promotion and Internal Trade (DPIIT) of the Centre released the State Business Reform Action Plan 2020 (State BRAP) rankings, in which AP retained its place. The state stood on top along with Telangana in the previous EoDB rankings. The rankings represent the ease of doing business with increased transparency, efficiency and effectiveness of the government regulatory functions vis-a-vis business enterprises.
The rankings were supposed to be out by March 31, 2020 but were postponed because of the Covid-19 crisis. Expressing happiness over the state topping the rankings, Industries and Commerce Minister Mekapati Gautham Reddy said it is just the beginning and a lot more is to be achieved.
“We want to hand-hold and de-risk investors, particularly in the time of Covid-19, and have rolled out a new industrial policy accordingly,” he told The New Indian Express.
Gautham Reddy, at the announcement of the rankings, highlighted the efforts of the government in ensuring business reforms leading to actual ease of doing business with a low cost of starting an enterprise and quick single-desk approvals with 99.9 per cent compliance with service-level agreements.
He stressed that Andhra Pradesh was the first state to unveil a ReSTART package amid the Covid-19 outbreak to bail out MSMEs,while fulfilling 90 per cent of promises made to the electorate and businesses in the first year of governance.
“These rankings, which were done through a survey of the investor community in January/February 2020, stand testimony to the investor-friendly commitment of the state and transparent governance in place,’’ he said. Meanwhile, the TDP said it was their hard work that made AP top the EoDB rankings.
“This is a result of the hard work and dedication of AP’s previous, citizen-centric Govt, and it’s commitment to the people. Pleased to note that AP has retained the top spot in EODB Rankings for the yr 2018-19 as well. Congratulations to the people of AP!” former Chief Minister and TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu tweeted and added that these efforts must not go to waste.
Industries minister slams TDP for taking credit of EoDB ranking
“The incumbent YSRCP government must set good intentions, and ensure that the tremendous potential of our State is utilised to its fullest,” he added. Gautam Reddy, however, ridiculed the opposition TDP for claiming the achievement.
He stated that the Centre comes out with reforms every year, and last year too the reforms given by the Centre were introduced by the state governments by March 31, 2019. However, the survey to verify the implementation will be done at the end of 2019, he said, and sought to know how the TDP could take the credit when the reforms were implemented after the YSRC came to power.
He said that unlike previous years, when the state governments used to submit reports, for the first time, feedback on the implementation of reforms was taken from end-users (industrialists).