Press Release
Jaipur, November 1, 2016: In the Ease of Doing Business rankings published by the Department of Industrial Policy Promotion, Government of India (DIPP), Rajasthan has led several Indian states in introducing and implementing business reforms. The DIPP assessment, conducted in partnership with the World Bank, listedRajasthan as one of India’sLeadersamongst the 32 states and Union Territories evaluated for the exercise.
The assessment is based on the states’ implementation of DIPP’s 340-point Business Reform Action Plan (BRAP)for 2015-16. Rajasthan implemented 96.43% of the BRAP,as against 98.78% implementation score of Andhra Pradesh and Telanganawhich led the ranking but significantly more than the national average of 48.93%. With this, Rajasthan has been moved to the Leader category from the Aspiring Leader category, where it was in last year’s rankings.
Commenting on the ranking, Gajendra Singh Khimsar, Minister of Industries,Government of Rajasthan stated,“We have worked hard over the past year to strengthen the business and investor environment in the state, and are proud of the progress we have made. Our implementation score has increased by over 30% in the last year, and four of our reform activities have been recognized as national best practices. These achievementsare testament to the effectiveness of the Rajasthan Model of Development, andwe shall continue to build on this successfor the benefit of the people of Rajasthan and of the industries and investors that work with us.”
Four of the state’s reform activities have been deemed national best practices: development of legally-valid master plans/zonal plans/land use plans for all urban areas; making the master plans/zonal plans/land use plans conveniently and easily available online; allowing building plan approval certificates to be downloaded via an online portal; and, enabling industries to submitan application, make a payment, and track and monitor requests for a water connection.
Additionally, Rajasthan has been recognized amongst the top 5 states in the country for enabling 9 of the center’s 10 core reform areas: construction permits, environmental registrations, labour regulation, obtaining electricity connection, online filing of tax returns, inspection, access to information and transparency, single window clearance, and commercial dispute resolution.
The state’s performance on business reforms metrics has far outpaced those of other states throughout India. While the assessment has identified areas for future improvement, the state government remains committed to growing and strengthening its ease of doing business environment.