Andhra Pradesh, Telangana top ease of doing business chart

The Dollar Business Bureau 

Andhra Pradesh and Telengana jointly emerged as the top rank holders in the “Ease of Doing Business Reforms Ranking 2015-16”, pushing last year’s table topper Gujarat to the third spot.

The study, conducted by the World Bank and the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), highlighted the quantity and quality of reforms undertaken by all State/Union Territory governments to present themselves as obvious investment destinations.

Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday announced the ranking, which was based on the DIPP-proposed 340-point business reform action plan and their implementation by the state governments, ranked these states on single-window systems, tax reforms, construction permits, environment and labour reforms, inspection reforms, and commercial disputes and paper-less courts.

Gujarat was followed by Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana, occupying the fourth, fifth and sixth slots respectively. The World Bank noted that four of the seven Indian states with the lowest income have for the first time broke into a place in the top ten ranks, with all the seven states registering an implementation rate of over 75%.

These low-income states were Chhattisgarh (97.32% implementation rate), Madhya Pradesh (97.01%), Jharkhand (96.57%), Rajasthan (96.43%), Odisha (92.73%), Uttar Pradesh (84.52%) and Bihar (75.82%).

“Last year, only seven states implemented more than 50% of the reforms proposed. This year, 17 have implemented more than 50% of the 340 reforms listed by DIPP. Last year, not a single state implemented more than 75% of reforms, this year, 16 states implemented more than 75%,” an ecstatic Sitharaman said.

“The results of the assessment demonstrate states have increasingly risen to addressing the challenge of making it easier to do business. The national implementation average stands at 48.93%, significantly higher than last year’s average of 32%,” the DIPP said in a statement.

Highlighting the states’ initiatives to improve ease of doing business, the DIPP said various states have instigated a dedicated body for state-level regulatory and fiscal incentives approvals for single-window clearances. The states have also progressed in tax reforms as they have mandated e-registration for value-added tax, central sales tax and have allowed online payment and tax return filing.

The latest announcement comes barely a week after the World Bank announced the global ease of doing business index, ranking India at the 130thposition out of 190.