Gujarat, the state Prime Minister Narendra Modi ran for more than a decade, is India’s best place for conducting business, the World Bank said on Monday, in a report that ranks the country’s states in an effort to encourage them to cut red tape.
The report, prepared with support from KPMG on the request of the Modi government, gains importance by coming before the World Bank’s annual Doing Business report, which ranks nations and is expected to be released next month.
Last year, India slipped two spots in the report, and was ranked lower than Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa - mainly because of delays in approvals for starting a business, tax payments, getting bank loans and property registration.
“The growth of business in India requires concerted action on several fronts - infrastructure, capital markets, trade facilitation and skills,” said Onno Ruhl, the World Bank’s India director. “The stark reality is that India remains a difficult place to do business.”
Monday’s report suggested that such steps as offering single-window clearances for administrative approvals, if followed by all states, could improve India’s global ranking.