Ease of business ranking: World Bank officials to meet DIPP

NEW DELHI: A World Bank team will meet DIPP officials next week to discuss steps taken by India to improve its ease of doing business ranking.

DIPP will give a detailed presentation to the team about the initiatives taken by both the central and state governments during the last one year, said an official in the Commerce and Industry Ministry.

Besides meeting officials at the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), the team will interact with various stakeholders to know the impact of the steps taken.

The World Bank carries out this exercise ever year for the purpose of ranking countries on their ease of doing business, from 1-189.

The official said that measures announced by both state and central government would help in significantly improving India's ranking.

"This year too, our ranking will improve from 130th. But by next year, we expect that India's ranking will come within 100th," the official added.

India's rank in the Doing Business Report 2016 was improved to 130th from 134th in the previous year. Government has emphasised on the importance of ease of doing business and it is a major pillar of ' Make in India' initiative.

The steps taken by the centre and states in the recent past include increasing validity of environment clearance from 5 years to 7 years; doing away with environment clearance for 36 white industries and introduction of online registration of VAT with real-time Tax Identification Number (TIN).

Besides, Mumbai has also removed the requirement of inspection to make registration of Shops and Establishments real-time.

Improving the position in ease of doing business reflects investor friendly climate and easy regulatory environment for domestic and foreign firms. High ranking helps in attracting investments.

The Doing Business Report of the World Bank ranks a country on 10 parameters that assess areas such as starting a business, construction permits, getting electricity and conducting trade across borders.