The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has started the exercise for the ranking of states and Union Territories in terms of ease of doing business for the next year, according to a top government official.
DPIIT Secretary Guruprasad Mohapatra said that the ease of doing business of states and UTs for next year would be released by March 2021. “We have started the exercise already. We have communicated the Business Reform Action Plan (BRAP) for next year with the states/UTs, which they have to implement,” he said, according to PTI.
Last year, the department had identified 181 reform points and for 2021, it has shared 301 such points with the states and UTs.
So far, rankings which started in 2015 have been released for 2015, 2016, 2017-18 and 2019 and is based on the implementation of BRAP and feedback received. The action plan covers12 business regulatory areas such as access to information, a single-window system, labour, and the environment and this exercise is expected to promote competition among states with a view to improving the business climate in order to attract domestic as well as foreign investments.
To help states which are progressing at a slower pace, Mohapatra said that “for next year, we have sent the reform agenda and we plan to engage with them in select groups, region wise. We will hold several rounds of meetings with them” thus helping them to improve the ranking.
Andhra Pradesh has topped the chart for the third time in a row as per the 2019 rankings, released on September 5. Registering a jump of 10 places in the rankings, Uttar Pradesh occupied the second position in 2019 as against 12th in 2018.
Telangana fell to the third position from second in 2018. Among the laggard states and UTs in the ranking, Bihar was at 26th, Kerala 28th place, Manipur (31), Meghalaya (32), Nagaland (33), Odisha (34), Sikkim(35) and Tripura (36).
The borrowing limit of states from 3 per cent of gross state domestic product (GSDP) to 5 per cent in 2020-21have also been raised by the centre on May 17, which will make available an additional Rs 4.28 trillion.
“We are going much beyond the World Bank’s rankings. Reducing compliance burden is the major exercise we are doing now,” he added.
