Ease of business

“[It is because of] administrative changes, legislative reforms and particularly what our finance minister did – very pathbreaking reforms, whether it is insolvency code, whether it is GST and many others, as well as technological changes,” he said.

The report said that during the past year, India made starting a business easier by fully integrating multiple application forms into a general incorporation form.

The country also launched the Goods and Services Tax (GST), a reform that replaced more than a dozen levies by the Centre and states. “India made paying taxes easier by merging diverse sales taxes into a single GST. This is another area in which reforms have been carried out for a third consecutive year,” the World Bank said. Jaitley, however, said the full impact of GST was not seen in the latest report.

“The contribution of GST was not entirely felt this year. They have taken the months up to December 31 into account. We had some teething trouble [in the early days of GST]. Next year, it is likely to improve,” the finance minister said. He said the online process of filing returns for direct and indirect taxes, improved payment procedures and the reduc- tion of number of interfaces resulted in the improvement of India’s rank from 156 to 121 on the ‘paying taxes’ indicator since 2014. This year, India performed well in the area of ‘getting credit’. The report said the country strengthened access to credit by amending its insolvency law to give secured creditors priority over other claims in insolvency proceedings.

India’s global rank in ‘getting credit’ has improved to 22 this year. India also performed well in the area of ‘protecting minority investors’, with a global rank of 7. “India’s strong reform agenda to improve the business climate for small and medium enterprises is bearing fruit. It is also reflected in the government’s strong commitment to broaden the business reforms agenda at the state and now even at the district level,” said Junaid Ahmad, World Bank Country Director in India. Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion secretary Ramesh Abhishek said the government was incentivising those who were doing honest business. “The 53 rank [jump] in two years is the highest jump by any country in the last seven years,” said the DIPP secretary.

“In 2014, we were sixth out of the south Asian countries, today we are first,” he added. With streamlining of processes, the country has made it faster and less expensive to obtain a construction permit. “India’s continued effort to make Dealing with Construction Permits easier has this year catapulted the country to a global rank of 52, from 181 last year,” according to the World Bank.

The country, however, continues to lag in areas such as ‘enforcing contracts’ (rank 163) and ‘registering property’ (rank 166). Jaitley said ‘registering property’, which was in a “very bad state”, was an area of the states and needed a uniform pattern to be followed.

“Our targets of improvement are ‘registering property’, ‘starting a business’, ‘insolvency and taxation’ and ‘enforcement of contracts’. There are already legislative systems for insolvency, taxation and enforcement of contracts. Now those will get implemented and they [World Bank] will determine them for the index,” the finance minister.

In the ‘getting electricity’ category, India jumped from the 137th spot in 2014 to 24 in 2018.

“The revised position will greatly add to the investment attractiveness and competitiveness of the Indian economy,” CII president Rakesh Bharti Mittal told PTI. Former economic affairs secretary Shaktikanta Das said: “This will enhance competitiveness of Indian economy and generate higher investments, domestic and foreign.”

Congress spokesperson Jaiveer Shergill said: “Mr Jaitley cannot hide reality by misleading the nation. The truth is only “Ease of looting India” has increased under the BJP rule.” hear the matter again on November 14. Lawyers Vineet Dhanda andmlsharma,andaamaadmi Party parliamentarian Sanjay Singh have challenged the deal in the court. Advocate Prashant Bhushan and former Union ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie have demanded a courtmonitored probe by the CBI.

“Wait for this. First, let the CBI get its house in order,” CJI Gogoi said, referring to the infighting between the top two agency officials.

“The SC order wants the government to clarify on the procedure, price and how the offset partner was brought in. These were the exact three issues raised in our petitions. What more could we want?” Shourie said.

Sinha said, “All the questions that we were raising are now going to be uncovered by the SC.”

The NDA government’s decision to enter a $8.7 billion government-to-government deal with France to buy 36 Rafale warplanes made by Dassault was announced in April 2015, with an agreement signed a little over a year later. This replaced the previous UPA regime decision to buy 126 Rafale aircraft, 108 of which were to be made in India by the state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL). The deal has become controversial with the Opposition, led by the Congress, claiming that the price at which India is buying Rafale aircraft now is ~1,670 crore each, three times the ~526 crore, the initial bid by the company when the UPA was trying to buy the aircraft. It has also claimed the previous deal included a technology transfer agreement with HAL.

The NDA government has said it cannot disclose the details of the price on two counts – a confidentiality agreement with France, and the strategic reason of not showing its hand to India’s enemies. The NDA has said the current deal also includes customised weaponry.

The deal has also become controversial on account of the fact that one of the offset deals signed by Dassault is with the Reliance Group of Anil Ambani. The Congress claims the earlier deal was scrapped and a new one signed just to provide Ambani this opportunity for an offset deal. Both the government and Reliance have repeatedly denied this.

On Wednesday, the Congress reiterated its demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on the Rafale issue. “The most significant part of the order is on pricing of Rafale. It (the court) has asked the Centre to file an affida- vit on why it claims it (pricing details) to be secret,” said senior Congress leader Manish Tewari.

Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala tweeted, “BJP Govt’s ‘boat of corruption’ will no longer ‘sail’, Supreme Court orders will expose the ‘truth of Rafale’.”