The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce and Industry recently unveiled the 4th edition of the Ease of Doing Business Rankings. These are based on the implementation of the State Business Reform Action Plan (State BRAP). In the rankings, Andhra Pradesh emerged as the top performer, trailed by Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand, while Tripura, Sikkim, and Odisha were ranked among the lowest.
Andhra Pradesh’s Triumph
Andhra Pradesh led the rankings with a 100% compliance rate with the BRAP. It was the pioneer State in implementing measures to rejuvenate the economy, severely bruised by the global pandemic. The State showed remarkable concern for small and medium-scale industries, introducing a ReSTART package. This package encompasses sanctioned incentives payments, extending working capital loans, and offering preferential market access to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).
Understanding the Ease of Doing Business Concept
Ease of Doing Business (EODB) is a collaborative initiative by DPIIT and the World Bank, aimed at refining the overall business environment within the States. The ranking system involving all the States and Union Territories is based on the level at which they have implemented the Business Reform Action Plan (BRAP).
An Insight into the Business Reform Action Plan
Launched in 2015, BRAP 2019 carries a list of 80 mandated reforms, grouped into 187 reform action points. These need to be executed by 19 State departments. The reforms touch on 12 business regulatory areas including Access to Information, Single Window System, Labour, Environment, among others.
The Ultimate Objective of BRAP
The overriding intention for the creation of the BRAP was to foster healthy competition among states. This sense of rivalry would stimulate investment and consequently, enhance the Ease of Doing Business within each State.
India’s Position in the Global Arena
In the World Bank’s Doing Business 2020 report, India occupied the 63rd spot out of 190 countries. This marked a leap of 79 places since 2014, attributed to several reformative measures by the central government, such as BRAP. The Doing Business report was initiated in 2003, it assesses objective measures of business regulations, and their enforcement across 190 economies. It focuses on ten parameters that affect a business throughout its lifecycle.
The source of this information is the Press Information Bureau (PIB).
