Moneycontrol, India’s no. 1 financial and business media platform, hosted the first edition of the Wealth Creator Awards, where Suresh Prabhu, Minister of Commerce & Industry, and Civil Aviation, graced the occasion as chief guest.
Gaurav Choudhury, Deputy Executive Editor, Moneycontrol, had a one-on-one discussion with Prabhu on India's recent jump in the Ease of Doing Business rankings.
Prabhu attributed India's frog leap in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Rankings by 53 positions to 77 to the leadership at the Centre. He said the overall mission of the government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is public good. Placing his trust in the central leadership, the Union minister said he is confident that India will come in the first 50 ranks in the next fiscal.
Prabhu also announced that the government is creating 'sub-national' Ease of Doing Business parameters which will be measured at the district level because that is where the local industries are flourishing. "It is going to be bottom-up approach," he said.
Choudhury also asked Prabhu the reasons behind India continuing to rank poorly in “Resolving Insolvency” and “Paying Taxes” parameters, despite the rollout of
GST and enactment of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code. (IBC).
To this, Prabhu pointed out that insolvency provides an opportunity to exit the business. "If you don’t allow exit, then you are creating an entry barrier," he added. Giving an example of the textile industry, the Union commerce minister said, "Textile mills of the past did not regenerate because they did not have insolvency law in place to exit or recycle the business."
Prabhu concluded his address by saying the Goods and Services Tax (GST) has contributed to India jumping its rank in the Ease of Doing Business list and that next year "India will definitely cross into the top 50".
India leapfrogged to the 77th rank in the World Bank's latest Ease of Doing Business rankings, jumping 23 notches from last year. The report, which came out last month, also recognised India as one of the top 10 improvers in this year’s assessment, for the second successive time. India is the only large country this year to have achieved such a significant shift.
India has improved its rank by 53 positions in the last two years, and 65 positions in the last four years (2014-18).
Source: moneycontrol.com