A rank fraud

The World Bank's annual "Ease of Doing Business" ranking of countries is a standard reference point for global corporations and India's consistently low rank is a permanent source of angst for the business community. So industry leaders were taken by surprise when a respected senior government official bluntly told them that the study was a "hoax and fraud" and no one should be carried away by its findings. The government is streamlining various processes and reducing paperwork to ensure that the "doing business" climate improves, he added, so it is not fruitful to believe the World Bank data blindly because, he claimed, the parameters used are incorrect.