Steps taken by India to improve its EODB Index ranking on the 10 parameters:

♤ Speeding up process: such as company’s registration within 1-2 working days, issuing of PAN in a day, providing electricity connections in 15 days with online application etc.

♤ Digitisation: It makes various processes easier for businesses and their employees such as digitization of property records and land records, ShramSuvidha Portal for filling returns for ESIC and EPFO etc.

♤ Facilitating trade across borders: through ‘Indian Customs Single Window Project’

as well as reducing the number of mandatory documents required by customs.

♤ Enacting or amending laws & rules: such as Enactment of the Commercial Courts, Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division of High Courts Act, 2015,the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 for speeding the exit procedure etc.

♤ Protecting minority investors through the Companies (Amendment) Act, 2015.

Though India has performed well on parameters like getting electricity, getting credit and protecting minority investors, on some other parameters like construction permits, resolving insolvency, paying taxes, enforcing contracts etc. it has performed poorly.

With the government plotting an eight-point strategy and firming up a 295-point reform agenda for states to improve India’s ranking, the following steps may be taken if India wants to reach the 90th rank in 2017-18 and 30th by 2020:

♤ As labor market regulation will be included in coming reports, simplification and rationalization of labour laws is inherent to improve the ranking.

♤ Setting up fast track commercial courts and redressing cases related to contracts in a time-bound manner.

♤ Reducing complexity and crackdown on corruption in allowing construction permits.

♤ Online registration of properties within a time bound manner.

♤ Reducing documents along with doing away with complexities in paying taxes.

♤ Further rationalization of import-export permits by removing bureaucratic delays.