New Delhi: India dropped three places to 134 in a list of 189 countries in the ease of doing business ranking while it slipped 2 places to 177 on the ranking related to starting a business, a new World Bank report showed on Tuesday.
The list was topped by Singapore. The ranking of India's neighbours was China at 96, even Sri Lanka (85), Pakistan (110) and Bangladesh (130).
Joining Singapore on the list of the top 10 economies with the most business-friendly regulatory environments are Hong Kong, New Zealand, the US, Denmark, Malaysia, South Korea, Georgia, Norway and the UK.
In India's neighbourhood, Sri Lanka at rank 85, China at 96, Pakistan at 110 and Bangladesh at 130, all comfortably outranked it.
The new rankings come at a time when the government is trying to attract inflows and is taking steps to ease regulatory hurdles. India also slipped 2 places to 177 on the ranking related to starting a business, while it moved to 182 from 183 on dealing with construction permits.
While there has been significant progress on several fronts, entrepreneurs still face an uphill task when they embark on a business venture . The situation differs from state to state but experts say more needs to be done to cut red tape and promote a business-friendly atmosphere . The government has raised doubts about such rankings in the past and there has been talk of developing a home grown index.
The country's ranking also moved a notch ahead on the parameter of paying taxes as it shifted to 158th position from the previous year's 159.
It fell two notches on the issue of protecting investors, moving to 34 in the ranking from the previous 32 while it was ranked 132 on trading across borders, below last year's 129th position.
When it comes to getting credit, India ranked 28 in 2014, down four notches from the previous year's 24th rank. On the issue of enforcing contracts , India continued to languish at 186position out of 189 countries.
Economies are ranked on their ease of doing business, from 1 to 189. A high ranking on the index means the regulatory environment is more conducive to starting and operating a local firm. This index averages the country's percentile rankings on 10 parameters , made up of a variety of indicators, giving equal weight to each.
The report showed that governments around the world significantly stepped up their pace of improving business regulations in 114 economies last year — an 18% jump from the previous year — laying the groundwork for local entrepreneurs to expand their work.
Doing Business 2014's 10 indicator sets are: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property , paying taxes, trading across borders, getting credit, protecting investors, enforcing contracts, resolving insolvency . This year marks the 11th edition in the series, which has faced criticism from some governments for the methodology that is used.
(With PTI inputs)
