Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, while hailing the fact that India has for the first time made a 30 ranks jump - the highest in the world - in the World Bank's ease of doing business index said it was in the face of “difficult yard sticks in specific areas.”
Addressing a press conference after the report was formally released, Jaitley said making a jump to the top rankings in ease of doing business was difficult particularly because “you don’t give credit for reforms undertaken until its impact is felt on the ground.”
The finance minister said the high ranking of being No: 4 in the world in terms of protecting minority investors was the result of changes in the company law, and the jump of 53 places in terms paying taxes was on account of the shift to online payments of taxes. The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), he said that resulted in the country jumping 33 positions in terms of resolving insolvency.
In areas where there was no reason to celebrate like the enforcement of contracts, registration of property and starting a new business, Jaitley said a lot of work was in progress. He was confident that the new measures in these areas would show its positive impacts on the ground and “we can jump into the top 50 in a few months.”
With regard to construction permits and building registrations, he said these issues rested with the municipal corporations which were under state governments. Jaitley added that the centre would urge the state governments to expedite work on these issues.
The 'Ease of Doing Business 2018' report, released by World Bank, credited the reform measures undertaken by the Modi government. “India has adopted 37 reforms since 2003. Nearly half of these reforms have been implemented in the last four years,” the report said. The report captures reforms implemented in 190 countries in the period between June 2, 2016 and June 1, 2017.
The survey was conducted on the basis of ten indicators and it was conducted in Delhi and Mumbai. The indicators include starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and resolving insolvency.
The report notes that India is one among the top 10 best performing countries in this year’s assessment, having implemented reforms in 8 out of 10 Doing business indicators. “India is the only large country this year to have achieved such a significant shift,” the report said. India scored 60.76 in the 2018 report compared to 56.05 in the report for 2017.
