India slips 2 spots in World Bank’s ‘Doing Business’ standings

India ranked a dismal 142 among the 189 countries surveyed for the latest (2015) World Bank’s “Ease of Doing Business” report, down two places from its position last year, reports fe Bureau in New Delhi. Singapore retained the top slot for the ninth year in a row and all of India’s BRICS peers except South Africa improved their rankings. Among India’s neighbours, only Bangladesh (173) and Afghanistan (193) fared worse.
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The bank’s functionaries stressed that since the cut-off date for the report was May 31, 2014, the drop in India’s ranking “is not connected in any way” with the Narendra Modi government. They also expressed confidence that, helped by steps taken by the new dispensation to cut red tape and improve administration, the country’s standing would improve significantly next year.
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India’s slippage was nevertheless unnerving, especially given the fact the country ranked a deplorable 186th when measured by the metrics of “Enforcing contracts” and 184th in the category of “Dealing with construction permits”.
The only category India improved significantly from its position in the previous report was “Protecting minority investors”, where India’s rank in the latest survey was a creditable 7, up 14 notches from a year ago.
In the 2014 report, India had 52.78 points and this year, it scored 53.97 points; yet, it dropped in the pecking order because others’ improvement was steeper.
Augusto Lopez-Claros, director, Global Indicators Group, Development Economics of the World Bank Group, said: “It is absolutely true that the new government of Mr Modi has made it very clear that they see the creation of a better investment climate and a more business friendly environment in India a top priority. However, it is important to remember that the new Government did not come into office until the second half of May.”
Singapore with 88.27 points occupies the top position in the ease of doing business followed by New Zealand, Hong Kong, Denmark and South Korea. Among other major countries, the US has been ranked seventh (the same as the previous year) while the UK improved to eighth slot from 7th last year. China was ranked 90 (against last year’s 93) while Sri Lanka (99), Nepal (108), Indonesia (114), Maldives (116), Bhutan (125), and Pakistan (128) got higher rankings than India in the latest survey.