Ease of Doing Business in India: Past, Present and Future

Contents: I. Current State of Ease of Doing Business in India: 1. Ease of doing business: India vis-à-vis world economies. 2. Ease of doing business in Indian states. II. Business environment in India prior to initiation of economic reforms in 1991 (i.e. 1947 to 1990): 3. Excessive regulation and control of private enterprise. 4. State domination of the financial sector. 5. Mutliple and punitive taxation. 6. Protectionist foreign trade policy. 7. Restrictions on foreign capital. III. Industrial liberalization, financial deregulation and trade openness since 1991: 8. Industrial liberalization, delicensing and institutional support. 9. Reformed legal framework for industry and business. 10. Financial deregulation and reforms. 11. Tax reforms and goods and services tax (GST).12. Trade openness and integration with the world economy. 13. Stimulus to foreign direct investment (FDI). 14. Inflation targeting. IV. Specific programmes/schemes for welfare of farmers: 15. Make-in-India campaign. 16. Start-up India initiative: 17. Micro unites development and refinance agency (MUDRA) and  Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana (PMMY). 18. Stand up India scheme. 19. eBiz project for improvement of business environment. 20. Smart cities mission. 21. National policy for skill development and entrepreneurship (NPSDE), 2015. 22. National Skill development mission (NSDM) and initiatives. 23. Strategies and measures to promote innovations. 24. Demonetization and other anti-black money legislative measures. 25. Public-private partnership (PPP) for infrastructure development. 26. Promotion of electronic payment systems. V. Indian economy: current challenges and future prospects: 27. World economy and India. 28. Challenges before the Indian economy. 29. Future prospects of the Indian economy : future global ranks of the Indian economy. Bibliography. Index. 

In the development strategy adopted after Independence in 1947, India paid insufficient attention to improve business environment-so crucial for rapid economic development to combat the twin problems of poverty and unemployment. As a consequence, entrepreneurs struggled to do business in the face of restrictive policies and regulation that choked rather than enabled business enterprise. Myriad rules and regulations inhibited business growth and held back India from achieving its potential. 

Economic reforms initiated in 1991 marked a clear change in direction as successive governments started paying attention to difficulties faced by the businesses. Although the situation has improved considerably in recent years yet India remains a tough place to do business as per benchmarks of developed countries.

In the World Bank’s Doing Business Report, 2015, India was placed at 142 among 189 countries in terms of ease of doing business. India ranked even below Pakistan which occupied 128th rank and much below China which secured 90th rank. 

Encouragingly, India jumped to 100the rank in the 2018 report. The improved ranking has enhanced India’s global image as a promising investment destination. Government’s target of breaking into the list of top 50 countries is ambitious yet achievable if it gets its priorities right on the weak areas.

India is presently the world’s fastest growing major economy. In the last few years, it has emerged as a global economic power, a leading outsourcing destination and a favourite of international investors. Indian industry has upgraded technology and product quality to a significant degree and met the challenges of openness after being protected for so long.

This book records and reviews the business environment in India prior to the initiation of economic reforms in 1991 (i.e, for the period 1947 to 1990). It provides a detailed account of policies and measures adopted for industrial liberalization, financial deregulation and trade openness since 1991. More importantly, it explains various programmes and schemes announced and implemented by the Government in recent years to catapult the Indian economy to a higher growth trajectory. (jacket)