Ease of doing business talk must move beyond ranking: Official

Emphasising on the need for India to achieve higher growth trajectory, a senior government official today said that ease of doing business must be ensured for the country's own sake and not just for achieving higher ranking on this index at the global level.
"India needs to achieve higher growth trajectory and the Government is committed for the same. But in the process, ease of doing business must be ensured for India's own sake and not just for achieving higher position on the World Bank ease of doing business rankings," Amitabh Kant, Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) under Ministry of Commerce and Industry, said at an event here.

India's position had slipped to a very low 142nd last year on the World Bank's 'Ease of Doing Business' rankings of 189 countries.
He said the government has taken several initiatives to improve the country's ranking on ease of doing business index.
These include digitising the process of applying for industrial licences and entrepreneurial memorandum and setting up an e-biz platform that seeks to integrate 14 services and make them available online.
In addition, the number of forms required to be filled for export and import business had been reduced from nine to three, Kant said.

The Government has also increased the initial validity period of industrial license to three years from two years, a move that will give enough time to licensees to procure land and obtain the necessary clearances/approvals from authorities.

He further said the Centre has identified around 98 parameters that it has shared with the states for necessary action by May 2015.
"In the coming months, the Government plans to evaluate these states based on the breakthrough achieved in the suggested areas. We expect CII and the industry to support the states in this endeavour, which will not only make doing business in India extremely easy but also kick start investment inflows," he added.