Haryana Government has formulated “Third Party Certification/Audit Scheme” for the factories, shops and commercial establishments in the State. The scheme aims at liberalizing the enforcement of labour laws in pursuance of implementation of the ‘Business Reform Action Plan 2016 - Ease of Doing Business”, said an official spokesman.

He said the scheme is divided into two parts. Its part-A refers to issues under Factories Act, 1948 and Rules framed thereunder, part– B  deals with the Minimum Wages Act, 1948, Payment of Wages Act, 1936, Contract Labour (R&A) Act, 1970, Payment of Bonus Act, 1965, Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972, Maternity Benefit Act, 1961, Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, Punjab Shops & Commercial Establishments Act, 1958, Equal Remuneration Act 1976, Motor Transport Workers’ Act, 1961, Punjab Industrial Establishments (National & Festival Holidays & Casual and Sick Leave) Act, 1965.

Ease of doing business initiatives, progress in unclogging stalled projects, liberalization of FDI rules, government employees’ pay revision and good monsoons will boost investments. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) annual study on private corporate investment sounds optimistic about a revival in capital spending. It lists the government’s ease of doing business initiatives, progress in unclogging stalled projects, liberalization of foreign direct investment rules, government employees’ pay revision and good monsoons that will boost consumption as “factors that may help in turning around the investment outlook in the near future”.

Chief Minister V Narayanasamy today unveiled new industrial policy for 2016 in the assembly and said it was framed on the lines of the new policy initiatives of the Central government across the country. 
The Centre has made a new approach towards growth of industries and adopted several new strategies like Make in India, Startup India, Standup India and Ease of doing business".
The new policy is expected to make Puducherry a preferred industrial investment destination and envisages strong and specific initiatives to ensure timely and hassle free guidance and clearances to new entrepreneurs. There will be a specific monitoring mechanism with provision for regular assessment of the working of the policy' he said. 

Customs free borders for Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal will cut down the transition time as well as the cost for the customers thus boosting ease of doing business, said an expert.

Ajay Sahai, Director General of Federation of Indian Exporters Organisation told KNN that Motor Vehicles Agreement (MVA) for the Regulation of Passenger and Cargo Vehicular Traffic (MVA) which was signed between Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal (BBIN) will reduce the transaction time and cost of the customer. On Tuesday, truck carrying goods from Bangladesh rolled into a customs depot in New Delhi for which the customs clearance is being done only at ICD, Patparganj. Adopting a cutting edge technology, the vehicle was affixed with GPS tracking equipment at Petrapole and the cargo was sealed electronically.

A fierce competition has broken out among states on the ease of doing business rankings, with states contesting every point, while some have even hired top consultants to keep tabs on the entire process. States want these consultants, including PwC, EY and KPMG, to not just help them with their own reforms, but also assess the business reforms of those states which are ranked above them, and point out possible discrepancies. 
 

Maharashtra, Delhi and Tamil Nadu again emerged as the most economically competitive Indian states in 2016 going by four varied criteria, according to the annual competitiveness report unveiled today by the Asian Competitiveness Institute here.

The three states broadly held the top positions relative to 32 other states and union territories, as they did in the 2015 and 2014 reports. No position was allocated to Telangana as the ACI used 2013 data for the study, which was the latest available on the chosen parameters.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has streamlined the process of issue of No Objection Certificate (NOC), Port Clearance Certificate (PCC), Voyage Return and Voyage Assessment in case of foreign shipping companies (FSCs).It has issued a circular regarding this purpose.
This prescribes guidelines for assessing officers to be followed for issue of said NOC leading to port clearance of ships belonging to foreign shipping companies. The assessment of voyage returns subsequently filed by the FSCs shall also be governed by the same.This Circular is another step by the CBDT towards further improving the ease of doing business in India for the foreign shipping companies.

India has made an impressive leap in its logistics performance in the last two years. The latest Logistics Performance Index (LPI) report released by the World Bank is a testament to that.

India improved its ranking from 54 in 2014 to 35 this year (2016). The LPI report is published every two years. This time, it compared 160 countries. LPI is an interactive benchmarking tool created to help countries identify the challenges and opportunities they face in their performance on trade logistics and what they can do to improve their performance.