Commodity Online
NEW DELHI: The World Bank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) are organizing a series of workshops this week to discuss reforms to improve the environment for doing business in India.

During the workshops, the World Bank and IFC presented global and local best practices of business regulation in four areas studied by the global Doing Business report: business registration, construction licenses, property registration, and paying taxes.

Participants attending the workshops include senior officials from the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion and the state governments, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), and business leaders.

During the workshops, the IFC and the World Bank also announced a new study to benchmark progress in improving the business environment at the sub-national level in India. The new report, Doing Business in India, will track the time and cost required to meet government regulations and assess the ease of doing business in 15 Indian cities.

The report will be a useful tool for Indian cities to know how business-friendly their regulations are compared to other cities. It will also showcase reforms that have made some Indian cities globally competitive. The aim is to encourage other cities to bring about change that will sharpen their competitive edge nationally and globally, and attract more businesses.

“Better rankings on the ease of doing business are associated with growth, additional jobs, and a smaller informal sector. Creating jobs is a priority for any government. More business-friendly regulations create opportunities and more equitable growth. Indian states would benefit greatly from new enterprises and jobs, which can come with more business-friendly regulations”, said Stefka Slavova, of the Doing Business Reform Project.

Anil Sinha, General Manager, IFC Advisory Services in India, reiterated, “IFC is delighted to be able to partner the Indian government in their reform agenda. We are also happy that we will now have the opportunity to scale up Advisory Services in India in response to the government as well as private sector needs.”

This year’s global Doing Business 2008 report found that India has made the most progress in trading across borders. It is also South Asia’s top reformer on the overall ease of doing business, moving up the ranking by 12 places, to 120th this year.

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