India's big leap in World Bank's Ease of Doing Business rankings

India leapfrogged to the 77th rank in the World Bank's latest Ease of Doing Business rankings, jumping 23 notches from last  year.    This is a  significant achievement  in short term  as India has improved its rank by 53 positions in the last two years, and 65 positions in the last four years (2014-18)

In    dealing with construction permits, India has implemented an online single window system, introduced deemed approvals and reduced the cost for obtaining these permits. In the electricity sector, the time taken for obtaining a new connection has reduced from 105 to 55 days. For resolving insolvency, India has put in place a new Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code and time bound reorganization procedure for corporate debtors. 

India did make starting a business easier by integrating multiple application forms into a general incorporation form. It enforced GST, for which the registration process is faster. Abolishing in Mumbai  the practice of site inspection   under the Shops  & establishing act.

As many nations have cut down on procedures to improve their rankings, India needs to make   further drastic changes to rank higher. World Bank factors in cost of starting a business as a percentage of income per capita. India’s low income per capita makes the cost look higher

In the World Bank Group’s annual ease of doing business rankings, the top 10 economies are New Zealand, Singapore and Denmark, which retain their first, second and third spots, respectively, for a second consecutive year, followed by Hong Kong SAR, China; Republic of Korea; Georgia; Norway; United States; United Kingdom and FYR Macedonia.

The MOST powerful passport in the world......

Singapore has been named as the country with the most powerful passport in the world in a new report. The 2017 Global Passport Power Rank, produced by advisory firm Arton Capital, put Singapore at the top of its list.

It ranked all of the passports of the world by their "total visa-free score," where a point is given for each country that their holders can visit without a visa, with a visa on arrival, or using electronic travel authorization ( eTA).

Prior to Paraguay's decision to remove visa restrictions, Singapore shared the number one spot on the Index with Germany, which has a passport score of 158 closely followed by Sweden and South Korea at 157.


This is the first time an Asian country has had the most powerful passport in the world, according to Arton Capital.
Meanwhile, the US passport has fallen in favor ( Score of 154)  since  President Donald Trump took office, the Passport Index statement said, noting that Turkey and the Central African Republic were the most recent countries to revoke visa-free status to US passport holders.

The index  developed  considering Passports of 193 United Nations member countries and six territories -- ROC Taiwan, Macao (SAR China), Hong Kong (SAR China), Kosovo, Palestinian Territory and the Vatican.  Territories annexed to other countries are excluded.


Here are the top 10 passports of this world:

1     1 Singapore  :  159

2     2 Germany : 158

3     3 Sweden and South Korea :157

4     4 Denmark,FInland,Italy,France,Spain,UK, Norway Japan :156

5     5 Luxembourg,Switzerland,Netherlands,Belgium,Austria,Portugal :155

6     6 Malaysia,Ireland, USA,Canada : 154

7     7 Greece, New Zealand, Australia :153

8     8 Malta, Czechia, Iceland :152

9     9 Hungry  :150

1     10 Slovenia, Slovakia,Poland,Lithuania,Latvia :149

India  improved  score to 51 and ranked 74. 

India ranked 74

Least Favored (Country rank &  scores)

            199  Afghanistan :  22

            197 Pakistan and Iraq : 26