WB rankings on 'Ease of Doing Business' not based on ground reality: Congress

The Congress on Wednesday said that World Bank's "Ease of Doing Business" global rankings is "not based on ground reality" as it has not taken into account the impact of GST and demonetisation, and the survey is confined only to Mumbai and New Delhi.

"We, as a party, are not challenging the World Bank report. But it is not on the basis of ground reality. The survey is only confined to Delhi and Mumbai. It did not take into account other cities in the country.

"The impact of GST has not been taken into account. Even demonetisation has not been taken into account and people are really suffering because of these steps of the government. Obviously that will reflect on the Ease of doing business," said Congress leader Rajeev Shukla.

India for the first time has moved into the top 100 in the World Bank rankings from its 130th position last year, riding on sustained government reforms which include making tax paying easier, according to the report.

With India climbing over 30 places in just a few years in the World Bank's "Ease of Doing Business" global rankings, getting into the league of top 50 countries is a distinct possibility over the short term, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Tuesday.

However, Shukla also said: "The World Bank report also did not take into account the 680 start ups which have closed down. If there is ease of doing business, then why exports are at a 14-year low and three crore jobs have been lost. Inflation is also very high. Somewhere, there is a contradiction.

"We demand that the government should do a reality check on the ground and find out what are problems of the people," he added.

The Congress also slammed the BJP for not commenting on the World Hunger Index report, in which India stood at 100th place out of 109 countries.

--IANS

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