• Nagaland bracketed under “jump start needed” category
• Andhra Pradesh, Telangana top in 2016 all-India ranking
Morung Express News
Dimapur | October 31
While Nagaland slightly improved its position in (U&Ts) in ‘The Ease of Doing Business rankings’ released on October 31, the State remains a distant investment destination; it was ranked in 26th position among list of 32 States and Union Territories (UTs) in India.
Union Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman released the list in New Delhi on Monday.
A press release by the Commerce Ministry through PIB said that the ranking were based on the results of the Assessment of State Implementation of Business Reforms 2015-16 jointly conducted by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Ministry of Commerce and Industry and the World Bank Group.
Assessment Criteria
The Assessment studies the extent to which states have implemented DIPP’s 340-point Business Reform Action Plan (BRAP) for States/UTs 2015-16, covering the period July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2016, it said.
The Action Plan includes reforms on 58 regulatory processes, policies, practices, or procedures spread across 10 reform areas spanning the lifecycle of a typical business, and data for the assessment were collected from respective State Governments.
The highlight of current assessment includes: Single Window Systems, Tax reforms, Construction permits, Environment and labour reforms, Inspection Reforms, and Commercial disputes and paper-less courts.
At least 32 State and UT Governments submitted evidence of implementation of 7,124 reforms, the Ministry said.
Ease of Doing Business in Nagaland and NE
According to the Report, Nagaland was ranked 26th position with 1.19 % implementation of the reforms. A slight improvement from last year when the State was ranked 31st.
The State has managed to implement 5 measly reforms out of 340-point BRAP. The reforms area included initiating single window systems and dedicated body or bureau for doing business as well as implementing online scheme on tariff.
Tripura scored the highest among the north eastern states with 16.67 per cent and was ranked at 22nd followed by Assam at 24th with a score of 14.29 per cent.
Manipur (1.19 per cent) was ranked at 28th while Mizoram (0.89 per cent) and Sikkim (0.60 per cent) were ranked at 29th and 30th respectively. Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh were ranked the lowest at 31st position with 0.30% of implementation.
All India Ranking
Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have jointly topped the ease of doing business ranking while Gujarat has slipped to the third position from the first rank last year. Chhattisgarh with 97.32 per cent and Madhya Pradesh with 97.01 per cent followed were ranked 4th and 5th respectively followed by Haryana with 96.95% implementation. Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and Maharashtra completed the top 10 positions.
The national implementation average stands at 48.93 per cent, significantly higher than last year's national average of 32 per cent, the Ministry informed.
Based on the implementation of reforms, the States and UTs were categorized as Leader (90-100%); Aspiring Leaders (70-90%); Acceleration Required (40-70%) and Jump Start Needed (0-40%)
Nagaland was included in the last category along with Kerala, Goa, Tripura, Daman and Diu, Assam, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Puducherry, Manipur, Mizoram, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Chandigarh, Meghalaya, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and Lakshadweep.
The Ministry said that present evaluation highlights the need to properly communicate, monitor and evaluate these reforms to ensure that their impact is being felt on the ground and aimed at promoting competition among states with a view to improve business climate to attract investments.
A detailed report will be published in November, it added.
