TIOL-DDT 1484 · Wednesday, 10 November 2010 · story 2 of 3

Doing Business in India - Still a nightmare?

INDIAN Economy may be booming and the likes of Obama may be wooing us, but the fact remains that 'doing business in India is still a bad proposition. According to a survey 'Doing Business 2011', by World Bank, even Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are better places to do business. India ranks 134 among 183 nations.

These are the vital statistics for India.

Starting a business (rank)

134

Procedures (number)

12

Time (days)

29

Cost (% of income per capita)

56.5

Minimum capital (% of income per capita)

188.8

Dealing with construction permits (rank)

177

Procedures (number)

37

Time (days)

195

Cost (% of income per capita)

2143.7

Registering property (rank)

94

Procedures (number)

5

Time (days)

44

Cost (% of income per capita)

7.4

Getting credit (rank)

32

Protecting investors (rank)

44

Paying taxes (rank)

164

Payments (number per year)

56

Time (hours per year)

258

Total tax rate (% of profit)

63.3

Trading across borders (rank)

100

Documents to export (number)

9

Time to export (days)

17

Cost to export (US$ per container)

1055

Documents to import (number)

9

Time to import (days)

9

Cost to import (US$ per container)

1025

Closing a business (rank)

134

Time (years)

7

Cost (% of estate)

9

Recovery rate (cents on the dollar)

16.3

According to the report,

India implemented 18 business regulation reforms in 7 areas. Many focused on technology—implementing electronic business registration, electronic filing for taxes, an electronic collateral registry and online submission of customs forms and payments. Changes also occurred at the subnational level.

One study looked at India's gradual elimination of the bureaucratic industrial licensing system known as the “license raj.” It shows that the effect on manufacturing output, employment, entry and investment varied across Indian states, depending on the institutional environment.

A survey in India found that fewer users paid bribes to accelerate e-government services.