World Bank’s ‘ease of doing business’ ranking for 2017

India has moved one rank up to the 130th position in the World Bank’s ‘ease of doing business’ ranking for 2017. The index was released as part of the World Bank’s annual report Doing Business 2017: Equal Opportunity for All.

• Word Bank Doing Business reports, introduced in 2004, review business regulations and their enforcement across countries —190 this year. The latest edition takes into account developments in one year up until June 1, 2016.

Key facts:

• New Zealand has replaced Singapore as the easiest place for doing business.
• New Zealand is followed by Singapore, Denmark, Hong Kong, South Korea and Norway.
• Performance of BRICS nations: Brazil-123, Russia-40, South Africa-74 and China-78.

India’s performance:

While the government’s focus on improving India’s ranking and an overhaul of the Companies Act came in for praise in the report, labour laws were flagged for creating economic distortions.  India’s overall score improved marginally to 55.27 as it climbed up the rankings for providing electricity connections, enforcing contracts through commercial divisions in Bombay and Delhi high courts, easier rules for trading across borders and making Employee’s Social Insurance Corporation payments.