New Delhi, India is still 27 positions away from target, set by the NDA government that New Delhi should be amongst the first 50 nations in the ‘Ease of Doing Business’, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Thursday.
Mr Jaitley said when the NDA took the regime in 2014 that, the Narendra Modi government’s objective was to ensure that India should be amongst the first 50 nations in the ‘Ease of Doing Business’. His call seemed to be a tall promise since India was on 142 rank and had to move up 92 positions.
The Minister said this in his blog ‘India and the Ease of Doing Business’,posted on the social media. The Government started working on each of the criteria in 2014 itself. Announcement of a change, a legislation or a policy is not enough unless the effect of the same is felt on the ground. The World Bank doesn’t regard announcements as a worthy improvement. There is always a timeline between the reform and the upgrade, he added.
Mr Jaitley said: “Having inherited the legacy of position No142, we moved up, in the first two years, and retained position No 130. In the third year, we have made a major jump of 30 positions to reach position No 100 and in the fourth year, we have moved to position No 77. This is a 65 point improvement in the first four years. We are still 27 positions away from the target. The impossible now looks plausible.”
The Minister said India has witnessed high level of corruption, policy paralysis and abandonment of all reforms during UPA. In the five year tenureof UPA-II, the country witnessed a global ranking 134, 132, 132, 134 and finally 142. This was UPA’s miserable track record.
Mr Jaitley added that on the ‘Starting of Business’, the country have improved in four years by 21 points. In ‘Construction Activity’, four year improvement is a massive 132 points. For ‘Getting Electricity’, it has improved a phenomenal 132 positions.
On registration of properties, it is still at position no 166. On ‘’Getting Credit’, the country is at position no 22. On ‘Protecting Minority Investors’, the nation has reached at position no 7 – the highest position in any category. On ‘Trading Across Borders’, which involves customs, New Delhi has improved significantly to position No 80 from an all time high of 146.
After the enactment and implementation of the GST and the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, India has improved in ‘Payment of Taxes’ by 37 positions but are still at 121. In ‘Resolving Insolvency’, it has improved 29 positions but are still at 108. On ‘Enforcement of Contracts’, it has improved by 23 positions but is still at 163.
“The other area where India has to make a special effort to further improve is in relation to ‘starting a business’.Current year the ranking of 137 has improved by 21 position in the last four years. It is still not a satisfactory position. There are several processes which are relevant both at the level of the Central Government and the State Governments. Much improvement is required in these areas,” he wrote in his blog.
