Irkedbyreport,govtto review reforms’ impact
CAUGHT UNAWARES Officials go into a huddle as India fails to jump spots in ease of doing business report despite undertaking reforms
The government will hold a mid-year review to assess the progress and impact of the reform measures undertaken in the last two years. “We will take up each issue and analyse whether the benefits are reaching the grass roots ... we have already held discussions on this,” minister of state for finance and corporate affairs, Arjun Ram Meghwal, told Hindustan Times.
Last week, the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business survey placed India at 130 among 190 countries -- just a notch above the previous year. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already asked the secretaries of various ministries to submit a report within a month.
Meghwal said the impact of the reform measures may not have been uniform across the country, but to conclude that they have not worked is not correct. The governmentwouldalsocommunicatethe sametotheWorldBank,headded.
“This is a vast country ... we have a federal structure ... for example, in the Digital India programme, there is an issue of optical fibre cable ... now certain states are yet to give a go ahead but there are several others where it is working properly...” Meghwal said.
The Modi government, which hassetanambitioustargetofbeing one of the top 50 countries in the survey, has undertaken several reforms. There was high expectations that the country’s rank wouldimprovesignificantlyafter thepassageofthebankruptcycode — which will replace a string of archaiclegislationswithamodern contemporarylawandaidcompanies to opt for easy exits.
According to the survey, “starting a business,” “credit” and “dealing with construction permits” are areas that need to be worked on. However, the report praised the government for overhauling the Companies Act.
Recently, India jumped 16 notches on the Global Competitiveness Index prepared by the World Economic Forum to reach the 39th position.