The Ministry of Commerce and Industry recently published the Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) Ranking. This ranking is grounded in the Business Reforms Action Plan (BRAP) report 2020.
Purpose of the EoDB Ranking
The primary goal of the ranking is to stimulate investor confidence, cultivate a conducive business environment, and improve the ease of doing business throughout the country. This is achieved by integrating a competitive edge through a system that evaluates states on their BRAP performance.
Assessment Parameters
The parameters used in this assessment cover a wide range of areas such as construction permit acquisition, labour regulation compliance, environmental registration processes, access to information availability, land availability, and the efficiency of the single window system.
Findings of the EoDB Ranking
Seven states – Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Punjab, Telangana, and Tamil Nadu – earned the title of ‘top achievers’ in the EoDB ranking. On the other hand, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, and Madhya Pradesh are recognized as achievers in the ranking.
Apart from these, six states, including Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura, Puducherry and Jammu and Kashmir, were identified as ’emerging business ecosystems’. Furthermore, seven states – Goa, Assam, Kerala, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Bengal – were classified as ‘Aspirers’.
Overview of the Business Reforms Action Plan (BRAP)
Launched in 2015, the BRAP is a critical component that influences the Ease of Doing Business Index. This plan was introduced to promote healthy competition among states, which can potentially attract more investments and increase the Ease of Doing Business in each state.
The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has been assessing states/Union Territories based on their BRAP implementation performance since 2014. Until now, assessments have been released for the years 2015, 2016, 2017-18, 2019 and 2022.
Highlights of BRAP 2020
The BRAP 2020 report includes 301 reform points that encompass 15 business regulatory areas – access to information, single window system, labour regulation, environmental regulation, sector-specific reforms, among others.
For the first time, sector-specific reforms were introduced in BRAP 2020. Seventy-two reforms were identified across nine sectors: trade licence, healthcare, legal metrology, cinema halls, hospitality, fire NOC, telecom, movie shooting, and tourism.
