Tamil Nadu moved up one spot, to get to the 14th position in ease-of-doing-business ranking 2019, from the 15th place in 2018. The State did not make it to the top 10, nor was it in the list that had registered the maximum improvement in the State Business Reform Action Plan Ranking, released by the Union Commerce and Industry Ministry on Saturday.
The rankings have come at a time when the State has been steadily attracting investors, signing agreements in 2019 as well as this year.
At the beginning of 2019, the State held the second edition of the Global Investors’ Meet (GIM), during which it signed MoUs with as many as 304 companies, securing investment pledges worth ₹3,00,431 crore.
In December 2019, Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami had said that 53 projects, resulting from deals inked during GIM 2019 had commenced commercial production, while another 219 were under various stages of implementation. He had also said that subsequent to GIM 2019, the State had attracted 63 projects, including those that came from his visits to the U.S. and the U.A.E., with an investment of ₹19,000 crore. This would create 83,300 jobs, he had said.
Recently, Mr. Palaniswami said the government had signed 42 MoUs, involving an investment of ₹31,464 crore, with the potential to generate 69,712 jobs.
Other metrics
Government officials said the ease-of-doing-business ranking was just one subset among various factors deciding the State’s investment climate. The State had topped the Good Governance Index, was ranked third in export preparedness and second in the Investment Potential Index, they added.
The officials said that the State was working on aspects beyond what was prescribed in the Business Reform Action Plan and had attracted the highest number of investment commitments during COVID-19. The government would continue to work on improving the ease-of-doing-business rankings.
