Entering top 50 in ease of doing business the only goal for India, but no deadline: Sitharaman

Disappointed but not discouraged by India's poor showing in latest Doing Business Report 2017 by the World Bank says commerce minister

Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday said India will strive to be counted among the top 50 nations in the ease of doing business index as Prime Minister Narendra Modi had aimed but refused to put a deadline on when this might happen.

"I am not discouraged but a bit disappointed", Sitharaman briefed the media a day after it was revealed that India has managed to move up by only a single rank in the latest Doing Business Report 2017 by the World Bank.

India's position on seven out of ten parameters went down compared to the previous year's rankings. The government said the ranking failed to take into account various reform initiatives undertaken by it. 

The country remains at the 130th position out of 190 countries globally, it was revealed on Tuesday. 

This is the same as last year, but qualifies for a single upward movement in rank as India’s position in 2016 has been revised to 131 by the World Bank. There were total 189 countries ranked in the 2016 report when India's position was just four places higher than 134  in the 2015 report.

On the poor show in rankings, Sitharaman said not only the central government but states are also actively working to improve norms related to ease of doing. "Now it'll be important for us to focus on interacting more with states", Sitharaman added.

The rankings came after senior government officials had repeatedly said India will improve drastically in the 2017 report and puts into jeopardy Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s aim of pushing India among the top 50 nations by the time the 2018 report comes. 

India will have to improve its position by whopping 80 places to meet the Prime Minister's target in just one year.