India Jumps up 79 positions in World Bank Doing Business Rankings
ECONOMY & POLICY

India Jumps up 79 positions in World Bank Doing Business Rankings

The Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Economic Survey 2019-20 in Parliament recently. The minister informed that India has jumped up 79 positions in World Bank’s Doing Business rankings, improving from 142 in 2014 to 63 in 2019. It has progressed on seven out of the 10 parameters. The Goods and Service Tax (GST) and the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) top the list of reforms that have propelled India’s rise in rankings. However, it continues to trail in parameters such as Ease of Starting Business (rank 136), Registering Property (rank 154), Paying Taxes (rank 115), and Enforcing Contracts (rank 163), said a release by PIB.

The number of procedures required to set up a business in India, for example, has reduced from 13 to 10 over the past 10 years. Today, it takes an average of 18 days to set up a business in India, down from 30 days in 2009. Although India has significantly reduced the time and cost of starting a business, a lot more needs to be done.

Construction permits

India has considerably improved the process to obtain construction permits over the last five years. Compared to 2014, when it took approximately 186 days and 28.2 per cent of the warehouse cost; in 2019 it takes 98-113.5 days and 2.8-5.4 per cent of the warehouse cost.

Trading across borders

While the government has already reduced procedural and documentation requirements considerably, increasing digitalisation and seamlessly integrating multiple agencies onto a single digital platform can further reduce these procedural inefficiencies significantly and improve user experience substantially.

The turnaround time of ships in India has been on a continuous decline, almost halving from 4.67 days in 2010-11 to 2.48 days in 2018-19. This shows that achieving significant efficiency gains in the case of sea ports is possible. The simplification of the Ease of Doing Business landscape of individual sectors such as tourism or manufacturing, however, requires a more targeted approach that maps out the regulatory and process bottlenecks for each segment. Once the process map has been done, the correction can be done at the appropriate level of government – Central, state or municipal.

Setting up and operating services or manufacturing business in India faces a maze of laws, rules and regulations. Many of these are local requirements, such as burdensome documentation for police clearance to open a restaurant. This must be cleaned up and rationalised one segment at a time. Enforcing a contract in India takes on average 1,445 days in India compared to just 216 days in New Zealand, and 496 days in China. Paying taxes takes up more than 250 hours in India compared to 140 hours in New Zealand, 138 in China and 191 in Indonesia. These parameters provide a measure of the scope for improvement.

The Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Economic Survey 2019-20 in Parliament recently. The minister informed that India has jumped up 79 positions in World Bank’s Doing Business rankings, improving from 142 in 2014 to 63 in 2019. It has progressed on seven out of the 10 parameters. The Goods and Service Tax (GST) and the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) top the list of reforms that have propelled India’s rise in rankings. However, it continues to trail in parameters such as Ease of Starting Business (rank 136), Registering Property (rank 154), Paying Taxes (rank 115), and Enforcing Contracts (rank 163), said a release by PIB.The number of procedures required to set up a business in India, for example, has reduced from 13 to 10 over the past 10 years. Today, it takes an average of 18 days to set up a business in India, down from 30 days in 2009. Although India has significantly reduced the time and cost of starting a business, a lot more needs to be done.Construction permitsIndia has considerably improved the process to obtain construction permits over the last five years. Compared to 2014, when it took approximately 186 days and 28.2 per cent of the warehouse cost; in 2019 it takes 98-113.5 days and 2.8-5.4 per cent of the warehouse cost.Trading across bordersWhile the government has already reduced procedural and documentation requirements considerably, increasing digitalisation and seamlessly integrating multiple agencies onto a single digital platform can further reduce these procedural inefficiencies significantly and improve user experience substantially.The turnaround time of ships in India has been on a continuous decline, almost halving from 4.67 days in 2010-11 to 2.48 days in 2018-19. This shows that achieving significant efficiency gains in the case of sea ports is possible. The simplification of the Ease of Doing Business landscape of individual sectors such as tourism or manufacturing, however, requires a more targeted approach that maps out the regulatory and process bottlenecks for each segment. Once the process map has been done, the correction can be done at the appropriate level of government – Central, state or municipal.Setting up and operating services or manufacturing business in India faces a maze of laws, rules and regulations. Many of these are local requirements, such as burdensome documentation for police clearance to open a restaurant. This must be cleaned up and rationalised one segment at a time. Enforcing a contract in India takes on average 1,445 days in India compared to just 216 days in New Zealand, and 496 days in China. Paying taxes takes up more than 250 hours in India compared to 140 hours in New Zealand, 138 in China and 191 in Indonesia. These parameters provide a measure of the scope for improvement.

Next Story
Resources

Gyproc India concludes ‘Beyond Dimensions’ design challenge

Gyproc India successfully hosted the finale of its flagship national design challenge, ‘Beyond Dimensions with Gyproc’, in Mumbai. Aimed at nurturing sustainability-focused innovation among young architects and designers, the event drew over 800 teams from 120 colleges across India. The Top 8 finalists presented forward-thinking concepts to a jury comprising Ar. Kavitha Selvaraj, Ar. Manish Dikshit, and Shailee Goswami. The top three winning teams—Anurag Singh & Kashish Gala (Rachana Sansad), Afeefah Hoda & Keerthi S, and Naveen Raja & Mohamed Yahya (RVS Padmavathy)—will now head to D..

Next Story
Infrastructure Energy

Stride Green raises US$3.5 million in seed round

Stride Green, a climate-tech asset financing and lifecycle management platform, has raised US$3.5 million in a seed funding round led by Micelio Technology Fund and Incubate Fund Asia, along with other strategic investors. The capital will help scale Stride Green’s tech-driven financing and leasing offerings across clean sectors like electric mobility, battery storage, and renewables. Funds will also support team expansion and future capability building. Founded by Ishpreet Gandhi and Vivek Jain, Stride Green aims to bridge financing gaps in early-stage clean technologies. Its proprietary ..

Next Story
Infrastructure Transport

CM Fadnavis opens last stretch of 701-km Samruddhi Mahamarg

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis inaugurated the final 76-km stretch of the Hinduhrudaysamrat Balasaheb Thackeray Maharashtra Samruddhi Mahamarg on 5th June 2025, marking the full commissioning of the 701-km Mumbai-Nagpur expressway. The inauguration ceremony, held in Thane district, was attended by Deputy Chief Ministers Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar, along with key officials linked to the project. The newly opened Igatpuri–Amane section completes the six-lane, access-controlled corridor designed to enhance high-speed connectivity across the state. With the expressway n..

Advertisement

Advertisement

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Get daily newsletters around different themes from Construction world.

STAY CONNECTED

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Talk to us?