Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Ministry of Commerce and Industry, released the final rankings of States in Ease of Doing Business in New Delhi on 10 July 2018. Andhra Pradesh retained its number one position and relegated Telangana to number two. Haryana, Jharkhand and Gujarat ranked third, fourth and fifth respectively. The industry leaders Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu ranked 8th, 13th and 15th respectively. Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh bagged 6th and 7th position.
DIPP, Ministry of Commerce and Industry in collaboration with the World Bank conducts an annual reform exercise for all States and UTs under the Business Reform Action Plan (BRAP).
The reform plan has expanded from 285 to 372 action points till 2017. States and UTs have conducted reforms to ease their regulations and systems in areas such as labour, environmental clearances, single window system, construction permits, contract enforcement, registering property and inspections. States and UTs have also enacted Public Service Delivery Guarantee Act to enforce the timelines on registrations and approvals.
The current assessment under the BRAP 2017 is based on a combined score consisting of Reform evidence score that is based on evidences uploaded by the States and UTs and Feedback score that is based on the feedback garnered from the actual users of the services provided to the businesses. The feedback was collected through face-to-face interviews of actual users selected from more than 50,000 users of the services provided by the State and UT governments. More than 5,000 private sector users in 23 States and UTs, including 4,300 businesses and 800 architects, lawyers and electrical contractors from across the country shared their experience.
DIPP has already shared proposed reforms for the next year with the State and UT Governments. Accordingly, the next year’s assessment will be entirely based on user feedback.
