MASSIVE: India jumps 23 positions to Rank 77 in World Bank's Ease of Doing Business

In a massive boost, India has jumped 23 positions to rank 77 globally -- its highest ever - in the World Bank's annual Ease of Doing Business ranking. This comes after India reached its earlier highest-ever position in the ranking, by jumping from Rank 130 to Rank 100 in last year's report.

India's corresponding Distance to Frontier (DTF) score has improved significantly from 60.76 in the last report to 67.23.

As per the statement regarding the latest rankings, the important features of India's performance this year are:

• The World Bank has recognized India as one of the top improvers for the year. 
• This is the second consecutive year for which India has been recognized as one of the top improvers. 
• India is the first BRICS and South Asian country to be recognized as top improvers in consecutive years. 
• India has recorded the highest improvement in two years by any large country since 2011 in the Doing business assessment by improving its rank by 53 positions. 
• As a result of continued performance, India is now placed at first position among South Asian countries as against 6th in 2014.

Other relevant portions of the press release regarding the ranking state the following: 

The World Bank released its latest Doing Business Report (DBR, 2019) today in New Delhi. India has recorded a jump of 23 positions against its rank of 100 in 2017 to be placed now at 77th rank among 190 countries assessed by the World Bank. India's leap of 23 ranks in the Ease of Doing Business ranking is significant considering that last year India had improved its rank by 30 places, a rare feat for any large and diverse country of the size of India.  As a result of continued efforts by the Government, India has improved its rank by 53 positions in last two years and 65 positions in last four years.

The Doing Business assessment provides objective measures of business regulations and their enforcement across 190 economies on ten parameters affecting a business through its life cycle. The DBR ranks countries on the basis of Distance to Frontier (DTF), a score that shows the gap of an economy to the global best practice. This year, India’s DTF score improved to 67.23 from 60.76 in the previous year.

India has improved its rank in 6 out of 10 indicators and has moved closer to international best practices (Distance to Frontier score) on 7 out of the 10 indicators. But, the most dramatic improvements have been registered in the indicators related to 'Construction Permits' and 'Trading across Borders'. In grant of construction permits, India's rank improved from 181 in 2017 to 52 in 2018, an improvement of 129 ranks in a single year. In 'Trading across Borders', India's rank improved by 66 positions moving from 146 in 2017 to 80 in 2018.

Here is how India has performed over the years in the World Bank's Doing Business Report:

2019 Report: Rank 77  Score 67.23 (The 16th annual Doing business ranking, data likely to be current as of June 1, 2018) 
2018 Report: Rank 100 Score 60.76 DTF (Distance to frontier)
2017 Report: Rank 130 Score 55.27 
2016 Report: Rank 130 Score 54.68 
2015 Report: Rank 142 Score 53.97 (Data as on June 1, 2014)
2014 Report: Rank 134  
2013 Report: Rank 132
2012 Report: Rank 139
2011 Report: Rank 135
2010 Report: Rank 133
2009 Report: Rank 132
2009 Report: Rank 120 
2007 Report: Rank 134
2006 Report: Rank 138

The latest jump means that since the Modi government came to power, India has jumped from its lowest ever rank 142 to its highest ever rank 77.

The focus on Ease of Doing Business:

That the Indian government was looking forward to a further improvement in its Ease of Doing Business rank was evident from statements made in the last few days by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Japan as well as by Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu. A number of structural changes and reforms, most notably GST, came into consideration in this edition of the report, as did an amendment to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy code (IBC).

About Ease of Doing Business:

As per the World Bank, "The foundation of Doing Business is the notion that economic activity benefits from clear and coherent rules: rules that set out and clarify property rights and facilitate the resolution of disputes. And rules that enhance the predictability of economic interactions and provide contractual partners with essential protections against arbitrariness and abuse."

The criteria, as per the World Bank:

Doing Business covers 11 areas of business regulation across 190 economies. Ten of these areas—starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and resolving insolvency—are included in the distance to frontier score and ease of doing business ranking. Doing Business also measures features of labour market regulation, which is not included in these two measures.