The state governments’ ease of doing business rankings released by the Center on Saturday drew strong criticism from some states and analysts, with the industry department relying solely on user feedback for the rankings that experienced wide fluctuation. in the positions of some states.
Most surprising was the ranking of Uttar Pradesh, which jumped 10 spaces to 2nd place just behind Andhra Pradesh.
In a series of tweets, the UP government said that the strong improvement in the ranking is due to the greater acceptance of the portal ‘Nivesh Mitra’ among the industry, which has received 18,120 complaints, of which 17,752 have been successfully resolved at an ‘outstanding’ resolution rate of 98%. “The maximum approval of the BRAP reforms (Business Reform Action Plan, 2019) and a higher record of satisfaction from user comments on the Nivesh Mitra portal have played a fundamental role in achieving this remarkable milestone for UP,” he said Alok Kumar, additional chief secretary, according to the UP government. Twitter identifier.
The Department for the Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) passed an assessment based on 100% of user feedback to rank states for 2019. States received 187 reform points to improve in 12 trade regulatory areas, such as access to information and transparency enablers, enablers labor regulation, enablers for building permits, one-stop-shop system, inspection permits, payment of taxes, availability and allocation of land, compliance with contracts, among others. The DPIIT has not yet released how states have fared in each of the reform areas.
The Odisha government, which saw the state’s ranking drop 15 places to the bottom of the table at 29, said it will address the matter with DPIIT. “It is understood that the survey agency designated by the DPIIT could not complete the feedback survey with the industries and MSMEs in the state and therefore the reforms implemented by the state could not be accounted for. There appears to be inconsistency in the results, as states / UTs that have not implemented any reforms or a much smaller number of reforms have been ranked higher than states that have implemented significant reforms, “the Odisha government said in a statement.
A DPIIT official on condition of anonymity said the rankings for 2019 are based on a list of users of reform processes provided by the states themselves. “The minimum response we required was 20 per state. Therefore, some states have experienced a sharp drop in their rankings because they did not provide an exhaustive list or because respondents actually ranked it low, “he added.
Jaijit Bhattacharya, President of the Digital Economy Policy Research Center, said that the methodology adopted by DPIIT is significantly different from that followed by DPIIT in its first EODB rating in 2014. “It would be more appropriate if the evaluation process is a combination of real processes, user feedback and “mystery purchases” by following up on a real investor who is setting up a plant in a state, keeping their identity confidential, “he added.
Dr. Bhattacharya said that he is surprised by the sharp jump in the UP rankings. “We see limited improvement in the business environment at UP because there is a gap in improving policies and the actual implementation of that on the ground,” he added.
Arindam Guha, a partner at Deloitte, said relying solely on investor feedback to rank states adds an element of subjectivity. “Going forward, it is important that all state reform data is hosted on a technology platform. For example, if you are really talking about a single window that is integrated at the state level, then ideally DPIIT should have access to that platform. Therefore, the transaction data in the system from the moment one requests a license and the moment one receives approval should be the basis of the classification. That is the most objective way to do it, “he added.
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