Significant changes on the ground following the government's initiatives for ease of doing business, were not sufficiently captured in the latest World Bank rankings, according to the industry body CII.
India was ranked a lowly 130th out of 190 economies in the Doing Business rankings released Tuesday. This was only a slight improvement over the country's revised rank of 131st for last year.
"The Government has made much effort to improve the investment climate through a range of measures, including (for) small enterprises, labour regulations, environmental clearances, and company registrations, among others,” said Naushad Forbes, President, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), in a statement.
“This year’s Doing Business report takes into account the position as of June 1, and therefore does not include crucial changes such as GST and the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code which are taking effect later,” noted Forbes, adding that once they kick in, India's ranking will improve.
He said the Doing Business report recognizes India’s reforms in key parameters, but measures the investment climate only in Delhi and Mumbai. Many reforms that have taken place with the monitoring of DIPP at the state level are not considered and do not reflect in the country wise ranking, he said.
Assocham President Sunil Kanoria said while the indices are important, the
ultimate test lies with investors. He suggested that the Centre along with states should continue to further remove the bottlenecks in the business environment.
Harshavardhan Neotia, President, FICCI, said, “States need to deepen the reforms in specific areas for improving the rankings further. A regular feedback mechanism as suggested by the Government to implement the reforms shall help in achieving results faster."
