The ministry of agriculture was renamed recently as the ministry of agriculture and farmers’ welfare. A welcome step and, perhaps, the Centre will devote better attention to farmers’ welfare and not just agriculture.

It has five interlinked objectives: facilitate investment; foster innovation; enhance skill development; protect intellectual property; and build infrastructure.

India has jumped to rank 130 out of 189 countries—up 12 spots from 142 a year ago.

India has accelerated efforts to improve the business climate in the country during the past year. This year’s improvement in ranking marks a significant shift in trend after several years of decline. The fact that the government achieved this in about six months underlines its commitment to making India an easier place to do business. These initiatives will benefit Indian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) the most.

As per a report made by ASSOCHAM, Corruption on the Central level has come down significantly whereas there is a lot more which needs to be done at the regulatory level.

Government should extend fiscal incentives and further improve ease of doing business to attract investors in the SEZ scheme, industry body Assocham on Monday said

At present, a total of 204 SEZs are exporting. As of June 30, a total of 15,04,597 persons have been provided employments in SEZs.

Under the Business Reform Action Plan 2016 for state and Union territories, DIPP will launch an interactive dashboard on its website in December where state rankings will be reflected in a dynamic manner, depending on the reforms implemented by states. The site will track 340 parameters issued by the industry department.

India is planning to put around 98% of sectors that are open to foreign investments under the automatic route so that investors are spared of the trouble of approaching either the finance or the commerce ministry for any approval, a senior government official said on Tuesday.

As per the definition by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, "any change in the physical object resulting in transformation of the object into a distinct article with a different name or bringing a new object into existence with a different chemical composition or integral structure" would qualify as manufacturing. 

Companies that assemble products in India, such as those in the automobile and telecom sectors, stand to gain while those that have simply been processing or relabeling products won't qualify as manufacturers, according to experts.

India proposes a major clean-up of decade-and-a-halfold rules that govern the prices of imports by related parties - such as arms of multinationals from their parent - in an attempt to reduce delays and disputes and make it easier to do business. 

Orders issued by a valuation branch are valid for three years, after which a follow-up reassessment is done. Although timelines are prescribed, the lack of capacity and reliance on paperwork usually lead to delays of as much as two or three years.

Seeking to increase transparency in operation and reduce corruption, the South Delhi Municipal Corporation today launched the online facility for procuring licences for business and commercial activities, a move that will help several thousands of traders in the city.