Goa: With ‘Aspirers’ tag, state climbs few notches in business reforms

PANAJI: The state government’s efforts over the last two years to improve the ease of doing business (EODB) appear to have borne some fruit, with Goa making it to the top 20 states in the fifth edition of the assessment exercise.
The assessment report under Business Reforms Action Plan for 2020 released by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman placed Goa in the ‘Aspirers’ category, but did not give a ranking.
BRAP 2020 includes 301 reform points covering 15 business regulatory areas such as access to information, single-window system, labour, environment, land administration and transfer of land and property, utility permits and others. The sluggish pace in regulatory reforms prevented Goa from breaking into the top Achievers category.
Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Telangana dominated the rankings, being classified as top achievers. The department for the promotion of industry and internal trade (DPIIT), which conducts the annual assessment, placed Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh in the Achievers category.
Assam, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Kerala, Rajasthan and West Bengal joined Goa in the Aspirers category.
DPIIT assesses the states through a competitive system in order to spur reforms and also boost investor confidence, foster business-friendly climate, and augment ease of doing business across the country by introducing an element of healthy competition.
In the 2018 edition of the Ease of Doing business rankings, Goa was placed at 19, but the state slipped fives places to 24 in 2019, as it failed to bring in much-needed reforms to improve the investment environment.
This time around, Goa has managed to return to sit among the top 20 states.
The rankings do not include Sikkim, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Lakshadweep and Ladakh as feedback could not be obtained for the states due to insufficient user data