India jumps 14 places in ease of doing biz

India has moved up 14 notches to the 63rd spot in the World Bank’s ease-ofdoing-business global rankings 2019, released on Thursday. India figured among the world’s top 10 most improved countries for the third consecutive year on the back of faster bankruptcy resolution and issuance of construction permits.

The improved rankings are expected to facilitate higher foreign investment into the country to pace up growth at a time when the RBI , International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have slashed India’s economic growth forecast for 2019-20. India also ranked Number One in South Asia. India went up ahead by 23 and 30 places, respectively, in the past two years.

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that besides implementation of

Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, efforts would be made to simplify Goods and Services Tax for further improving India’s ranking in the index. “In the next ranking, the World Bank will include the business climate in Kolkata and Bengaluru as well. Currently, it takes into account only Delhi and Mumbai,” she said.

The report, however, said the challenges India is facing would continue. “The country needed to do more in areas such as enforcing contracts and registering property where India ranks a dismal 163rd and 154th globally. Also, in the most fundamental of them all--ease of starting a business–India’s rank rose by just a single place in the latest report,” the World Bank noted.

Industry bodies said the jump in India’s ranking is a testimony to the remarkable improvement in the country's business climate owing to the series of reforms undertaken by the government.

The report said India had broken into the club of 100 easiest nations to conduct business two years ago when it managed to jump 30 spots from the 130th position. “The World Bank has named India as one of the economies with the most notable improvement for the third year in a row, along with Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, and neighboring Pakistan and China,” it said.