World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Survey 2015: In the overall ranking, West Bengal came in at a better-than-expected 11th with Tamil Nadu, Haryana and Punjab below it at 12th, 14th and 15th positions.
Gujarat topped among states in implementing an ‘action plan’ on ease of doing business, with Andhra Pradesh next, and Jharkhand rather surprisingly coming in at third position, according to a World Bank report released on Monday, heralding a system of regular ranking of states in the spirit of competitive federalism. The NDA-ruled states occupied the top six slots.
Outlined in December 2014, the plan, the first in a series, was carried out in earnest by many states during the six-month assessment period (January-June 2015) and improvement was most visible in tax (VAT/CST) reforms, the world body said, but revealed that on average, only 32% of the proposed reforms had been implemented on a pan-India basis.