Jaitley not happy with WB's India ranking

'Ease of doing biz' position should have gone up: FM

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Sunday expressed dissatisfaction with India’s 12-rank jump in the World Bank’s ease of doing business index, saying it should have gone up “significantly higher” than what was pegged at given the number of steps taken by the Narendra Modi government in the last 17 months.

“I understand that all steps have not been factored in since the World Bank criteria has a cut-off date and it also waits for announcements to translate into action before they can be factored,” he said in a Facebook post.

A World Bank report on Tuesday ranked India at 130 out of 189 countries on the ease of doing business, scaling it up by 12 places from 142nd rank last year. In September, India saw its ranking climb up by 16 positions on a global index of the world's most competitive economies, according to a report of World Economic Forum.

“Even though the push up numerically is modest, it marks the reversal of an adverse trend. Quicker decision making, faster policy changes, eliminating corruption at the top and smoother clearances have played a significant role,” Jaitley said, attributing the improvement in India’s global ranking to various steps taken by the government.

The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearances and the environmental approvals were being “routinely” granted. Investors no longer have to queue up before the ministries in Delhi, lobbying for policy changes or approvals, he said.

“An equally encouraging factor is that the states have also altered their work culture. Investment is the starting point of all economic activity. An investment-friendly state will be a natural destination. This realisation has donned upon the states.  Competitive federalism can be seen. The work culture is changing in most States,” he added.

The finance minister, however, said more steps were required to be taken to improve India’s global ranking for ease of doing business.

“Having opened most sectors for foreign direct investment, time has come to examine whether some of the conditionalities on which FDI investment is permitted, have become anachronic. We need to cut down on the number of permissions required so that the time lag between the decision to invest and the actual investment can be shortened significantly,” he said.

States must realise that local laws which enable availability of land, environmental permissions, sanction of building plans need a re look, he suggested.

“Once an industrial zone or new township has been cleared for environmental sanctions, should individual structures require a separate environmental approval?  Many countries have switched to an architect’s certificate as a substitute for building plans being sanctioned,” he added.