GUWAHATI: Meghalaya was placed at the bottom in the “ease of doing business” rankings among states and Union Territories prepared by World Bank and the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), it was informed on Tuesday.
The state was ranked joint 34th, at the bottom of the “Aspirers” cate-gory with a percentage score of zero along with Arunachal Pradesh and Lakshwadeep, the combined scorecard of reform evidence and feedback revealed.
For the second consecutive year, Andhra Pradesh, with a percentage score of 98.42, topped the list in ease of doing business among all states and UTs, followed by Telangana (98.33) and Haryana (98.07).
The states/UTs were divided into: Top Achievers (Above 95 per cent), Achievers (90- 95per cent), Fast Movers (80-90 per cent) and Aspirers (below 80 per cent). Neighbouring Assam however fared much better to be placed in the 17th rank (Fast Movers category) with a percentage score of 84.75.
Other Northeastern states were however placed in at almost the bottom half of the Aspirers category, with Tripura ranked 25 with a percentage score of 22.27, Nagaland at 28th with a percentage score of 14.04, Mizoram at 30th with a percentage score of just 3.63, Manipur at 32nd with only 0.27 per cent, while Sikkim was placed at 33rd with a dismal percentage score of 0.13.
DIPP in collaboration with the World Bank conducts an annual reform exercise for all states/UTs under the Business Reform Action Plan (BRAP). The move is aimed at triggering competition among states to attract investments and improve business climate.
In the inaugural edition of the rankings, only seven states implemented more than 50 per cent of the reforms suggested by the government, while the second edition saw 18 states implementing more than that level. This year, that list has gone up to 21 states.
State governments have taken several steps such as setting up of single window system for approvals to improve ease of doing business. The central government had in the last Budget identified 372 action points for states which they would carry out in a mission mode. The parameters include areas such as construction permits, labour regulation and environmental registration.
