The World Bank publishes an annual index ranking countries on the “The Ease of Doing Business”. The index is used to rank the relative position of countries, where a higher ranking indicates relative ease of starting and conducting business. A high rank is indicative of simpler, better regulations for businesses and stronger protections of property rights.
The research presents data for 189 economies and aggregates information from 10 areas of business regulation:
- Starting a Business
- Dealing with Construction Permits
- Getting Electricity
- Registering Property
- Getting Credit
- Protecting Minority Investors
- Paying Taxes
- Trading across Borders
- Enforcing Contracts
- Resolving Insolvency
Progress between 2014-18
India has jumped 30 places on the Ease of Doing Business from 134 to 100.
NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 31:
India has recorded a major improvement in the “Ease of Doing Business” rankings, improving from 130 in 2016 to 100 in 2017, a jump of 30 notches. This brings India into the top 100 rankings on the World Bank’s ‘ease of doing business’ index, due to improvements in indicators such as resolving insolvency, paying taxes, protecting minority investors and getting credit.
The Indian Government announced that they believe the rankings do not fully reflect the changes made to new business set-up; and that with ongoing taxation reforms the ranking would improve further. The government aim is to improve India’s ranking to the top-50 by 2020.
DIPP secretary Ramesh Abhishek has been reported to state that “There are over 100 reforms in progress that have not been factored in this year.”
Looking at specific categories within the Index, India’s ranking dropped from 155 to 156 for ease of starting a business due to the higher number of procedures required.
Corporate law and securities regulations were recognised as highly advanced, placing at the 4th rank on protecting minority investors.
India still lags on enforceability of commercial contracts and on construction permits and cross-border trading.