India has recorded a jump of 23 positions against its rank of 100 in 2017 to be placed now at 77th rank among 190 countries as per the World Bank's 'Ease of Doing Business' report.
India's leap of 23 ranks in the Ease of Doing Business ranking is significant considering that India had improved its rank by 30 places last year, a rare feat for any large and diverse country of the size of India. India has improved its rank by 53 positions in the last two years and 65 positions in the last four years.
The Doing Business assessment provides objective measures of business regulations and their enforcement across 190 economies on ten parameters affecting a business through its life cycle. The report ranks countries on the basis of Distance to Frontier (DTF), a score that shows the gap of an economy to the global best practice. This year, India's DTF score improved to 67.23 from 60.76 in the previous year.
Launched in 2003 by the World Bank, the 'Ease of Doing Business' report is an independent objective assessment of business regulation across 190 economies which covers the lifecycle of a business from end to end in 10 indicators - starting a business, construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and resolving insolvency.
India has improved its rank in six out of 10 indicators and has moved closer to international best practices (Distance to Frontier score) on seven out of the 10 indicators. But, the most dramatic improvements have been registered in the indicators related to 'Construction Permits' and 'Trading across Borders'.
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In grant of construction permits, India's rank improved from 181 in 2017 to 52 in 2018, an improvement of 129 ranks in a single year. In 'Trading across Borders', India's rank improved by 66 positions moving from 146 in 2017 to 80 in 2018.
The World Bank has recognised India as one of the top improvers for the year. This is the second consecutive year for which India has been recognized as one of the top improvers. India is the first BRICS and South Asian country to be recognized as top improvers in consecutive years.
Furthermore, India has recorded the highest improvement in two years by any large country since 2011 in the Doing Business assessment by improving its rank by 53 positions. As a result of continued performance, India is now placed at first position among South Asian countries as against sixth in 2014.
Briefing the media on the latest report, Ramesh Abhishek, Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) said, "India is recognised among top 10 improvers for the second consecutive year. India is now ranked first among South Asian countries compared to sixth rank in 2014."
Commenting on construction permits, Abhishek elaborated, "Online single window in Delhi and Mumbai has streamlined the processes. The procedures have reduced from 37 to 20 in Mumbai and 24 to 16 in Delhi. The time has reduced from 128 to 99 days in Mumbai and from 157 to 91 days in Delhi. The cost has reduced from 23.3 percent to 5.3 percent (percent of cost of construction)."
"We implemented an online single window system, integrating internal and external departments and removing requirement of visiting them individually. The time taken to process all approvals during the construction lifecycle has been reduced from 185.9 to 94.8 days," he added.
In regards to trading across borders, he further said, "Robust Risk Management System (RMS) has reduced inspections. e-Sanchit, now allows traders to file all documents electronically. Electronic sealing of containers has enabled faster movement of goods."
"Electronic self-sealing option at factory premises reduces time associated with customs clearance. A robust risk management system has reduced physical inspections of import consignments. Advance bill of entry facility allows importers to initiate customs clearance before arrival of goods at the port, thus reducing clearance time," he added.
For getting credit, Abhishek underlined that secured creditors are now given absolute priority over other claims within insolvency proceedings and the strength of legal rights index has improved from eight to nine.
Reacting to the jump in rankings in the 'Ease of Doing Business' report, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said, "When we came to power Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that we have to come within the top 50 ranks. Today, we are at the 77th rank. DIPP has worked on how to up the ranking on each criterion. You have to crack the code and try and improve on the criterion in which we lack."
"With all uniform construction bye-laws, from 184 in 2014 ranking we have jumped up by 129 points to 52. This is the largest single jump. It was a big corruption issue. But there has been a record improvement in ranking. The ease of doing business is to maximise the governance with minimum government personnel and procedures and the investment environment is guided by this," he added.
Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Suresh Prabhu underlined that it is the team work between central, state and local governments and the collaborative efforts and combination of several interventions that led to the jump in the rankings.
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