Andhra Pradesh chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has got reason to cheer: His state has topped an annual list in ease of doing business in the country for the second year in a row.
Telengana was a close second followed by Haryana, Jharkhand, and Gujarat in the annual rankings by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) and the World Bank released on Tuesday.
The ranking is based on reforms in construction, labour regulation, environmental registration, access to information, and land availability in 28 states and Union Territories. It is based on the ‘cooperative and competitive federalism’ approach promoted by the NDA government to attract investment and improve the business and regulatory environment in the states.
The top 10 states with a score of more than 95% were clubbed together as ‘achievers’ and 18 states with a score below 80% were dubbed ‘aspirers’. The ‘aspirers’ included Meghalaya, Lakshadweep, and Arunachal Pradesh, the three states at the bottom of the list. Delhi also featured in this group along with developed states like Kerala, Goa, and Punjab.
For the first two years after the list was introduced in 2015, the ranking was based only on evidence provided by state governments, but the latest survey introduced user feedback to compile the final scorecard in an effort to ensure that the reforms had actually reached ground level.
The feedback was collected from more than 50,000 users such as architects, lawyers, and electrical contractors of services provided by the state and UT governments.
Only two states, Jharkhand and Telangana, scored 100% in the reform evidence higher than Andhra Pradesh. But Andhra Pradesh had the highest feedback score of 86.5%, allowing it to pip Telangana for the top spot.
Globally, India’s ranking jumped 30 positions to 100 out of 190 nations in the last World Bank Doing Business report.
