Planning Commission panel readies study on top 10 business-friendly states of India

NEW DELHI: A study on the country’s most businessfriendly states, the first ever commissioned by the Planning Commission, has revealed that four BJP-ruled states and an equal number headed by the Congress have made it to the top 10.

These include Congress-led states of Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala and BJP-ruled Gujarat, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. They have scored the highest in five out of six parameters, which were used to compare the states, a senior official told ET.

Tamil Nadu and Odisha are the other two states. Rajasthan was ruled by the Congress until December.

Deloitte, which prepared the study, has put the states in three buckets based on parameters that include tax-related issues, land acquisition, environmental regulations, labour laws, issues related to infrastructure and other minor issues. It has already been submitted to the commission’s Deputy Chairman, Montek Singh Ahluwalia.

The top bucket has 10 states but individual states have not been ranked. The idea to rank states based on the ease of doing business is to present a comparative picture on the areas where they can improve to facilitate setting up of industry, the official said. This, the commission feels, will, in the long run, help in improving the overall ranking of India on the global scale if all states emulate the best practices. India is ranked 132 among 185 countries in overall ease of doing business in the latest World Bank report.

The study is even expected to make it easier for foreign investors to zero in on the most business-friendly states in the country.

About 400 companies, 50 industry associations and both the Centre and state governments were surveyed by Deloitte for the study, which lasted for six months. The report has a detailed profile of 28 states with best practices in each state across India.

Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh have fared better than Maharashtra, which is at the tier-II level, sharing space with Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, the official said on anonymity. “While Odisha and Chhattisgarh have come as a surprise to us, unfortunately, north-eastern states and Jharkhand have emerged as laggards,” the official said.