Odisha slips to 14th in ease of doing business ranking

Bhubaneswar: Odisha has slipped three places, from eleventh to fourteenth, in the Government of India’s ‘Ease of Doing Business’ rankings jointly prepared by the World Bank and the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) this year.

The State has been ranked under the “Achievers” category with a total score of 92.09 per cent out of 100 per cent. The State’s last year score was 92.17 per cent.

Speaking on the ranking, Sanjeev Chopra, Principal Secretary, Industries Department, said, “We have made significant strides in implementing ease of doing business reforms with the compliance percentage going up from 52.15% in 2015 to 92.09% in 2017. The top 14 states are bunched in a close range of 6% and there isn’t much to differentiate among them. It is important to see the ranking in the context of increasing competition among the states to attract investments. The latest ranking only strengthens our resolve to further intensify efforts to make Odisha one of the best investment destinations in the country.”

Odisha’s investor-friendly policies and the development of world-class infrastructure have received very positive feedback from investors across the country as the State has been able to create an ideal business ecosystem for various sectors to flourish in the state. The State has seen a significant rise in attracting manufacturing projects with more than 118 large projects approved with employment potential of 1,28,572 in the past 4 years alone. The average time taken for approval of the projects is also reduced to 20 days from the date of receipt of completed project application.

Over the past few years, multiple initiatives have been taken by Odisha to enhance investment promotion preparedness. These include institutionalizing State Level Facilitation Cell, appointment of sector-specific nodal officers to handhold investors, identification of 6 focus sectors, regular domestic and international investor outreach through roadshows in addition to a focused approach to facilitating investments through technology-enabled interventions like Government of Odisha – Single Window Portal for Investor Facilitation and Tracking (GO-SWIFT). GO-SWIFT have received unprecedented response from investors.

A recent Invest India-World Bank survey on investment promotion preparedness had ranked Odisha as an “Aspiring Leader” among 21 states. The State had scored 80% which was much higher than the national average of 70%.

Andhra Pradesh has topped the annual business ranking of states and Union Territories by the World Bank and Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP).

Telangana and Haryana are at the second and third positions, respectively, according to a statement issued by DIPP.

Others in the top ten are Jharkhand (4), Gujarat (5), Chhattisgarh (6), Madhya Pradesh (7), Karnataka (8), Rajasthan (9) and West Bengal (10).

“A large number of states have made significant progress in reforms suggested in BRAP 2017,” it said.

The assessment under the BRAP 2017 is based on a combined score consisting of reform evidence score that is based on evidence uploaded by States/UTs and feedback score that is based on response garnered from the actual users of the services provided to the businesses.