C’garh slips to 6th rank in ‘Ease of Doing Business’

Chhattisgarh is ranked sixth this time by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry which released the final rankings of States in Ease of Doing Business in New Delhi on Tuesday.

The top rankers are Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Haryana. Jharkhand and Gujarat stood fourth and fifth respectively. Interestingly, Chhattisgarh topped in terms of property registration.

Chhattisgarh was ranked fourth among the “top five States” in the country, as per the ‘Ease of Doing Business’ ranking released in 2015-16 by DIPP.

As part of the first authentic and comprehensive assessment ever undertaken in India, the State was ranked 4th among 32 States & UTs of the country.

Gujarat had topped in 2015-16 with a score of 71.14 % followed by Andhra Pradesh (70.12%), Jharkhand ( 63.09 %), Chhattisgarh ( 62.45%) and Madhya Pradesh ( 62%).

As per the latest report released on Tuesday (July 10, 2018), DIPP in collaboration with the World Bank conducted an annual reform exercise for all States and UTs under the Business Reform Action Plan (BRAP).

The aim of this exercise was to improve delivery of various Central Government regulatory functions and services in an efficient, effective and transparent manner.

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.

It is for the first time that DIPP has introduced taking feedback to ensure that the reforms have actually reached ground level.The feedback was collected through face-to-face interview.

DIPP identified partner States to mentor another State and UT to facilitate implementation of reforms in States and UTs needing support. Telangana and West Bengal held extensive workshops to support Tripura and Nagaland respectively.   Additionally, States have also provided their systems developed to other States so that everyone can benefit from this reform exercise.

The State reform exercise under Ease of Doing Business in India is creating a lot of interest in other countries like Brazil, South Africa and Indonesia which proves that such reforms are imperative for improving the business and regulatory environment.