Big jump likely in ranking for India in ease of doing business

NEW DELHI: India expects a big jump in the World Bank’s ease of doing business ranking that will be released soon, thanks to multiple reforms initiated by the government beginning to show results. Ranked at 130 in the last reckoning, the government has set itself a target of breaking into the top 50.
“The successful implementation of the insolvency code and the goods and services tax (GST) has given a big boost to India’s business environment,” a top government official told ET.

The World Bank will release its 2018 edition of the ease of doing business report on October 31.

Two other sources confirmed the progress made by India. One of the them said he expects “substantial” improvement in India’s rank, possibly breaking into the top 100 or coming close to it. India had risen only one position in the 2017 ranking, disappointing the government that had been expecting a significant improvement.

The World Bank may not have considered some of the reforms as it counts an improvement only when the new policy is put into practice. The insolvency and bankruptcy law to facilitate a quick end to failed businesses was passed last year but its implementation only began this year with many big cases referred to the National Company Law Tribunal.

India had been ranked 136 on resolving insolvency, one of the 10 criteria used to measure overall ease of doing business. Officials sure, India’s rank had risen from 51to 26 in 2017.

The ‘starting a business’ rank is also expected to improve with many simplifications introduced by the ministry of corporate affairs kicking in.

India’s rank had dipped to 155 from 151 last year on this score. India’s highest rank is 13 on ‘protecting minority investors,’ highlighting the work done by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) over the years in making Indian markets more investor-friendly. Despite financial inclusion issues, India ranks at 44 in ‘getting credit,’ indicating that organised business does not have many issues on this count. expect a marked improvement in this rank.



Similarly, on paying taxes, India is ranked 172, which should see a substantial improvement because of the goods and services tax (GST).

The new levy has replaced over 40 taxes and cesses. In its last edition, the World Bank had taken note of India’s reforms and targeted attempts to improve ease of doing business.

“The Indian government, for example, has committed to improving its… ranking by steadily implementing reforms across all indicators,” it had said.