Indian CEOs believe govt is business friendly: PwC

NEW DELHI: India is one of the top three nations globally, where the company's chief executives believe the government is business friendly and are taking adequate steps to reduce regulatory burden on firms, a report says.

"It appears that only in India and China is there overall a balance of CEOs who believe their government is both business-friendly and reducing the regulatory burden," PricewaterhouseCoopers Annual Global CEO Survey said.

Around 34 per cent of corporate honchos in India belive that the government here, where their company is headquartered, is creating a business friendly environment and 20 per cent said the country has reduced the regulatory burden on corporations, the report said.

In both the cases India has been ranked ahead of China. In China only 10 per cent believe their government has created a business friendly environment and 8 per cent think their regulatory burdens have been reduced.

In France, CEOs believe the government to be business friendly but not reducing the burden on corporations, while in in contrast, Japan is the only other country where government is seen to be taking step to cut down regulatory hurdles, although it is not perceived to be very friendly.

Governments of other countries, including the UK, US, Italy, Spain and Russia, meanwhile feels that their governments have not done much to improve the regulatory system and business friendly environment, the report pointed out.

The priorities that figured in the CEOs' list for government action include labour laws, tax regime, education, law and enforcement, environmental legislation, healthcare, product safety regulation among others.