India lags Pakistan, Bangla Desh, Nepal in ease of doing business: World Bank
10 Sep 2009
New Delhi: Although the Indian government has consistently been carrying out reforms in opening out the economy, reducing licenses and easing tax rules, the country still remains behind more than 130 countries in terms of ease of doing business according to the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation's annual Doing Business Report 2010.
The report listed Singapore, New Zealand, Hong Kong and the US at the top in that order in terms of the ease of doing business.
In the Asian region Malaysia stood at 23rd place while India at 133rd place was also behind its neighbours in the region such as Pakistan at 85th place, Sri Lanka, 105th, Bangladesh, 119 and Nepal 123.
The Doing Business 2010 report examined business environment in terms of starting a business, dealing with construction permit, employing workers, registering property, getting credit, protecting investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and closing a business.
Economies are ranked from one to 183 on the basis of their regulatory environment being conducive to business operations. All of India's neighbors except Afghanistan have come out better than India.
According to the report the one area where India took reform initiatives in the year up to June 2009 is in handling bankruptcy by appointing more judges in courts handling payment defaults, said the report.