'Study on ease of doing biz not in line with reality'

Government today said the World Bank's ease of doing business ranking for India is "not in line with the reality" and has asked the multilateral lending body to reassess the parameters.
As per the latest World Bank's report on 'ease of doing business', India had slipped three notches to 134th spot. The report ranks 189 economies on various parameters relating to business and regulatory environment.
"We have clearly seen that the manner in which this has been done is not in line with with the reality. So we have written to the World Bank to put its assessment into the realistic perspective both in terms of assessment of cost required and in terms of the documentation required," Commerce Secretary Rajeev Kher told reporters here.

The ease of doing business, which the World Bank evaluates currently includes documents, time taken in transactions and cost of a transaction, he said.
He said the country is already taking several steps to further ease of doing business in India and more steps are underway "on reducing number of papers for exporters and importers".
He informed that in the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), applications and processing is now done online.

The ministry is working to connect the customs and the DGFT's systems.
On special economic zones, he said soon online applications can be filed for SEZs.
"We are launching by end of October a module which will provide this online application facility for all things done in SEZs," he said adding a pilot module will be launched in Mumbai and based on feedback it will be expanded.