India makes highest-ever jump to rank 100 out of 190 countries in ‘Ease of Doing Business’ rankings

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India jumped 30 spots to secure a place among the top-100 countries on World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business ranking list in 2018. With this year’s performance, India became the first ever country to record highest jump in World Bank’s ‘Ease of Doing Business’ ranking.

The World Bank on October 31 released the Doing Business (DB) Report, 2018. The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) is pleased to announce that India ranks 100 among 190 countries assessed by the Doing Business Team. India has leapt 30 ranks over its rank of 130 in the Doing Business Report 2017.

The DB Report is an assessment of 190 economies and covers 10 indicators which span the lifecycle of a business. The table below provides a comparison of this year’s and last year’s report. India has improved its rank in 6 out of 10 indicators and has moved closer to international best practices (Distance to Frontier score). The credit for this significant improvement is attributed to the mantra of “Reform, Perform, Transform” given by the Prime Minister, wherein a strong leadership has provided the political will to carry out comprehensive and complex reforms, supported by a bureaucracy committed to perform. The Government has undertaken an extensive exercise of stakeholder consultations, identification of user needs, government process re-engineering to match Government rules and procedures with user expectations and streamlined them to create a more conducive business environment. An extensive exercise is also undertaken to increase awareness among users about reforms to ensure extensive use of newly created systems.

This edition of the report acknowledges India as a top improver, with an improvement of 30 ranks compared to last year’s report, the highest jump in rank of any country in the DB Report, 2018. India is the only country in South Asia and BRICS economies to feature among most improved economies of the DB Report this year.

Commenting on the india’s ranking, Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley said on November 1, “Historically India has been in the range of 130-140. In last two years, we made it to 131, 130 places. This year we have jumped 30 points to 100. This is the highest jump any country has made in World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business ranking.”

The World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business index ranks the nation based on the 10 indicators. These indicators are: 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. Each one of these indicators carry equal weightage.

The survey conducted by World Bank covers economies of 190 countries, evaluating them on 10 specific parameters required for doing business. India has improved its standing in 6 out of these 10 indicators, the report shows. Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi hailed India’s historic jump of 30 ranks in the World Bank’s Doing Business Report, 2018. India’s rank has risen to 100 in the latest report compared to 130 in the Doing Business Report, 2017.

While terming the improvement in the rankings as historic, the Prime Minister in a series of tweets, said that the jump is the outcome of the all-round and multi-sectoral reform push of Team India.

“Historic jump in ‘Ease of Doing Business’ rankings is the outcome of the all-round & multi-sectoral reform push of Team India.

Easier business environment is leading to historic opportunities for our entrepreneurs, particularly MSME sector & bringing more prosperity.

Over the last 3 years we have seen a spirit of positive competition among states towards making business easier. This has been beneficial.

It has never been easier to do business in India. India welcomes the world to explore economic opportunities our nation has to offer!

Guided by the Mantra of ‘Reform, Perform & Transform’ we are determined to further improve our rankings & scale greater economic growth.”, the Prime Minister said.

Major achievements in the World Bank in the Doing Business Report are :

1. Resolving Insolvency

a. Rank improved from 136 to 103

b. Distance to Frontier (DTF) score improved from 32.75 to 40.75

c. Strength of insolvency framework index increased from 6 to 8.5

d. Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code created for efficient handling of restructuring & insolvency proceedings

e. Professional institutes set up for handling restructuring & insolvency proceedings

2. Paying Taxes –

a. Rank improved from 172 to 119

b. DTF score improved from 46.58 to 66.06

c. Payments reduced from 25 to 13 in a year

d. Time reduced from 241 to 214 hours

e. Total tax rate reduced from 60.6% to 55.3% (% of profit)

f. Post filing index improved from 4.3 to 49.31

g. Enabled electronic registration, return & payment of ESI & EPF contributions

3. Getting Credit –

a. Rank improved from 44 to 29

b. DTF score improved from 65 to 75

c. Strength of legal rights index improved from 6 to 8

d. Credit bureau coverage increased from 21.4% to 43.5% (% of adults)

e. Increased coverage of security interest registration under SARFAESI Act

f. Secured creditors prioritized over Government dues for purposes of recovery

4. Enforcing Contracts –

a. Rank improved from 172 to 164

b. DTF score improved from 35.19 to 40.76

c. Cost reduced from 39.6% to 31% (% of claim)

d. Quality of judicial process index improved from 9 to 10.3

e. Dedicated commercial courts established

f. National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) to monitor and manage court cases

5. Protecting Minority Investors –

a. Rank improved from 13 to 4

b. DTF score improved from 73.33 to 80

c. Strength of minority investor protection index increased from 7.3 to 8

d. Extent of conflict of interest regulation index increased from 6.7 to 7.3

e. Extent of shareholder governance index increased from 8 to 8.7

f. Greater transparency requirements for interested parties transactions

g. Greater shareholder protection through action against directors & claims for damages

6. Construction Permits –

a. Rank improved from 185 to 181

b. DTF score improved from 32.83 to 38.80

c. Procedures to obtain construction permits reduced from 35.1 to 30.1

d. Time reduced from 190.0 to 143.9 days

e. Cost reduced from 25.9 per cent to 23.2 per cent of warehouse value.