7 PM | Good report card: On ease of doing business | 25th October, 2019

Context:World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Report 2020.

More in news:

• India jumps to 63rd position in World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business 2020 report
• India has moved 14 places to be 63rd among 190 nations in the World Bank’s ease of doing business ranking released on 24th October 2019.

Ease of Doing Business Report:

• Ease of Doing Business Report is released annually by World Bank Group.
• Doing Business measures aspects of business regulation affecting small and medium-size domestic firms defined based on standardized case scenarios and located in the largest business city of 190 economies.
• Doing Business covers 11 areas of business regulation. 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 ease of doing business score and ease of doing business ranking.
  • Doing Business also measures features of labor market regulation, which is not included in doing business score and ease of doing business ranking.
• Doing Business relies on four main sources of information:
  • the relevant laws and regulations,
  • Doing Business respondents,
  • the governments of the economies covered
  • World Bank Group regional staff.
• Doing Business data are widely used by governments, researchers, international organizations and think tanks to guide policies, conduct research and develop new indexes.

World Bank:

• Founded in 1944, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) was soon called the World Bank.
• World Bank has expanded to a closely associated group of five development institutions.
  • International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) 
  • International Finance Corporation (IFC) in 1956
  • International Development Association (IDA) in 1960
  • International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID)
  • Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA)
• World Bank is headquarters in Washington, D.C.
• The World Bank Group has set two goals for the world to achieve by 2030:
  • End extreme poverty by decreasing the percentage of people living on less than $1.90 a day to no more than 3%
  • Promote shared prosperity by fostering the income growth of the bottom 40% for every country
• The World Bank is a vital source of financial and technical assistance to developing countries around the world.
• The World Bank provides low-interest loans, zero to low-interest credits, and grants to developing countries. These support a wide array of investments in such areas as education, health, public administration, infrastructure, financial and private sector development, agriculture, and environmental and natural resource management.

Ease of Doing Business Report 2020:

• Doing Business 2019 is the 17th in a series of annual reports investigating the regulations that enhance business activity and those that constrain it.
• The report assesses improvement in ease of doing business environment in Delhi and Mumbai.
• India still lags in areas such as enforcing contracts (163rd) and registering property (154th).
• It takes 58 days and costs on average 7.8% of a property’s value to register it, longer and at greater cost than among OECD high-income economies.
• India is among top 10 improvers in 2020 report. The 10 top improvers are Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Togo, Bahrain, Tajikistan, Pakistan, Kuwait, China, India, and Nigeria.
• Exporting and importing is also easier following the integration of several government agencies into an online system and the upgrading of port equipment and infrastructure.
• Since 2003/04, India has implemented 48 reforms captured by Doing Business. The most improved business regulatory areas have been starting a business, dealing with construction permits and resolving insolvency.

Source: https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/good-report-card/article29789953.ece