India most difficult place to do business in S Asia,save Afghanistan

In what may come as a rude shock to policy makers, a World Bank Report released here ranks India a poor 120th out of a total of 178 countries on an index measuring Ease of India Business, putting Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka ahead of it. In South Asia, only Afghanistan has a lower rank (159) than India. ''With poor performance in the sub-category Enforcing Contracts (177th), Indias Ease of Doing Business overall rank is 120th (out of 178), which, although a substantive improvement over its previous rank of 132, still reflects a generally poor business environment,'' the Report says. The Report says Indias governance environment is relatively more favourable than the average South Asian or Low Income Countries and is an improvement from the situation in the early 2000s. ''With severe power shortages, congested roads, and poor quality railways and ports, deficient infrastructure is a major binding constraint to trade activity in the country.'' A presentation of the Report--World Trade Indicators 2008--was made by Dr Gianni Zanini, Lead Economist and Trade Programme Leader, The World Bank. The following are the Rankings of other South Asian countries on the Ease of Doing Business Index: Maldives (60); Pakistan (76); Bangladesh (107); Sri Lanka (101); Nepal (111) and Bhutan (119).

The Report says on an average, South Asian states have one of the worst business environments across all regions. None of its countries are in the top 50 in the Ease of Doing Business rankings, and only two are in the top 100--Maldives and Pakistan. For some of the smaller countries in the region like Nepal, Bhutan, and Sri Lanka, political instability continues to be a problem, especially for Foreign Direct Investment(FDI), new business development and growth in their important tourism sector.

-- (UNI) -- 13DC7.xml

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