Andhra Pradesh retained its top position in the `ease of doing annual business ranking’ of States and Union Territories in 2019 while Uttar Pradesh jumped ten positions from the previous year’s performance to take the second position. Telangana slipped one position and is placed third.

The States and UTs were ranked on the basis of their performance in 181 reforms indicators covering 45 business regulatory areas including access to information, single window clearance, land administration, construction permit, labour regulation, environmental registration, according to the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) which released Business Reform Action Plan (BRAP) 2018-19 on Saturday.

The State and UT ranking exercise based on the implementation of the BARP started in the year 2015.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, during the release of the report, said the fact that the rankings were linked 100 per cent on user feedback indicated that the government was committed to take the benefits down to the grassroots.

“The competition will get healthier and more reforms will come rolling out in the years to come,” she said.

In Northern India, Uttar Pradesh emerged as the top reformer, in Southern India it was Andhra Pradesh, in Eastern India it was West Bengal, in Western India it was Madhya Pradesh, in North East India it was Assam while amongst UTs, the top performer was Delhi, as per the index.

“The ranking per se does not reflect that one is superior to the other. It captures the effort that States are doing to better their ranking,” pointed out Commerce & Industry Minister Piyush Goyal.

The Minister said that it is a competitive ranking and if a State has done good work and another does better, it can jump up the ranks.

“The ease of doing business rankings are a reflection of the efforts made by States. India is among the very few nations which has state-specific rankings, which will in turn help the nation improve its ranking,” Goyal said.

India climbed up 14 positions in the latest World Bank’s ease of doing business ranking to 63 among 190 countries. In the last five years of the BJP-led government, India’s ranking has improved 79 places from 142 in 2014

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