Northeast scores low on business reforms implementation

Despite the stated promise of promoting India's north eastern states, the region continues to rank at the bottom of the pyramid as per the latest ease of doing business ranking released on Monday.

The Assessment of State Implementation of Business Reforms, 2016, a report prepared by the Centre in collaboration with the World Bank, showed that north eastern states scored as low as 0.30 per cent in terms of implementing reforms for ease of doing business.

"The northeast, Jammu and Kashmir and some union territories need a lot of attention," Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said while releasing the report here.

According to the report, Tripura scored the highest among the north eastern states with 16.67 per cent and was ranked at 22 for the year 2016, showing an improvement from its previous rank of 26 in 2015.

However, Assam was ranked 24 with a score of 14.29 per cent, falling from its previous rank of 22 last year.

Following Assam were Nagaland (1.49 per cent) at rank 26, Manipur (1.19 per cent) at rank 28, Mizoram (0.89 per cent) at 29, and Sikkim (0.60 per cent) at 30.

The report showed that Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh were at the lowest rank of 31 with a joint score of 0.30 per cent.

"The government is particularly interested in moving with eastern and north eastern states," Sitharaman said.

Andhra Pradesh and Telangana are the new joint top-ranked states this year in ease of doing business, the report said.

--IANS

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