WB sets new benchmark for State to boost EOB rankings

Index scores go up in three categories; State has done well in power sector: report

Mumbai: The World Bank (WB) has set new scores for the State to better its ease of business (EOB) rankings in 2019. The Doing Business Report for the next year has increased index scores in three categories: reliability of infrastructure, transparency of information, and geographic coverage.

The new benchmark, officials said, means the State will have to improve its overall performance to score 100% and rise up in the rankings.

Maharashtra ranks 12th, while Delhi is positioned at 23. The State has struggled to make into the top 10 ever since the rankings were introduced in 2015. West Bengal, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, for the first time, scored 100% this year on the doing business indexes.

“The reliability of infrastructure index has been increased from the score of 2.0 to 8.0 for 2019. Similarly, we have increased the geographic coverage index to 8.0, and the transparency of information score now is 6.0,” an official in the industries department, said.

The report released this week shows the State has done well in power sector, reducing the procedures to getting electricity to 3 from 5. The time for obtaining a new electricity connection has been reduced from 47 days to 8 days.

According to the report, the cost for obtaining a new connection has been reduced to ₹12,075 from ₹21,196. “We have done really well in improving in the areas of procedure, cost, time, and quality in the power sector,” Arvind Singh, principal secretary, energy, said.

Maharashtra’s EOB rankings have been lagging on account of nine major reforms in judicial and construction sectors, which have been pending for a long time. On the 372-point agenda, the government has failed to carry out reforms in the judiciary and the revenue department.

Officials said the concerns are over two key parameters: a uniform building code and construction permits for warehouses.

In a presentation made to the Prime Minister’s Office recently, the State claimed that the selection of construction permits has been random, as it has not received any proposals for building warehouses in the last five years. It also expressed confusion over how construction permits are taken into consideration for the rankings.

The latest assessment is, however, limited to the indexes of electricity, registration of property, and professional tax.