Have taken 7k steps to improve ease of doing business: Nirmala

Over 7,000 steps, big and small, have been taken by the government so far to improve the ease of doing business in the country, Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said.

She also said that the ministry is working with all states to improve the business climate further. "Roughly about 7,000 big, small, medium and nano measures have been taken on ease of doing business. As a result of which, we feel that states have realised that ease of doing business is a major agenda and they also see the benefit on going on that route," she said.

Steps taken to improve ease of doing business include fixing timeline for clearance of applications, de-licensing the manufacturing of many defence products, introduction of e-biz project for single window clearance, reduction in number of documents required for export and import, and mandatory filing of all returns on-line through a unified form.

In the World Bank's latest 'Doing Business' 2017 report, India's place remained unchanged from last year s original ranking of 130 among the 190 economies that were assessed on various parameters. Last year's ranking was revised however to 131 from which the country has improved its place by one spot. India has expressed disappointment at its rank remaining low, stating that efforts and reforms undertaken by the Centre and states have not been adequately captured in the ranking.

These ranks are based on ten parameters such as starting a business, construction permits and getting credit.

The government has been making efforts to further improve the ease of doing business and aims to bring the country in the top 50.

Improving business climate helps attract both domestic and foreign investments.

The commerce and industry minister said that the government had initiated a lot of big ticket and systemic reforms in the last three years and would continue efforts to consolidate the gains as also take up more economic measures in the remaining two years.

She said the government pursued reforms in a host of sectors, including banking, real estate, taxation, aviation and commercial dispute resolution.

"In the three years, both big ticket and systemic reforms have been taken in a calibrated fashion," she said on the occasion of the NDA government completing three years in power. The reforms have been undertaken at every level of governance, she said, adding the government has the mandate for five years and there are two more years to go during which consolidation would happen. "We need to consolidate" on reforms and take up new things in the months to come with a view to boost economic development, Sitharaman said. She further said that because of the various initiatives taken by the government, the confidence of overseas and domestic investors have improved.

FDI into India increased by 9 per cent to a record level of $43.48 billion in 2016-17.

After coming to power in May 2014, the government started a range of reforms in various sectors like taxation, FDI policy, power, aviation and infrastructure.