Ease of doing business: Andhra Pradesh tops ranking among states

In the 'ease of doing business' ranking released today by the World Bank and DIPP, Andhra Pradesh is on the top. Telangana and Haryana are at the second and third positions, respectively, according to a statement issued by Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion. However, the 2016 all-India State/Union Territory-wise Ease of Doing Business rankings was jointly topped by Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

According to the report, others in the top ten ranking are Jharkhand (4), Gujarat (5), Chhattisgarh (6), Madhya Pradesh (7), Karnataka (8), Rajasthan (9) and West Bengal (10). Meghalaya was ranked last at 36th position.

The DIPP in collaboration with the World Bank conducts an annual reform exercise for all States/UTs under the Business Reform Action Plan (BRAP). It said, "A large number of states have made significant progress in reforms suggested in BRAP 2017." it said.

According to the DIPP, 17 states have achieved a reform evidence score of more than 90 per cent and 15 have achieved a combined score of 90 per cent and more. It further added, "The states which have achieved 80 per cent or more reforms evidence score represent 84 per cent of the country's area, 90 per cent of the country's population and 79 per cent of India's GDP." 

The assessment under the BRAP 2017 is based on a combined score consisting of reform evidence score that is based on evidence uploaded by States/UTs and feedback score that is based on response garnered from the actual users of the services provided to the businesses, PTI report said, adding that number of reform actions implemented under BRAP 2017 increased to 7,758 from 2,532 in 2015. 

As part of the Business Reforms Action Plan 2017, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) had last year finalized a total list of 372 reforms in regulatory processes, policies, practices or procedures. The index is spread across 12 key reform areas. 

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Reforms successfully undertaken by each state are updated on the dashboard with the result that states with the highest implementation of reforms securing the highest ranks.