DOING BUSINESS REPORT (DBR) 2019

About:

• Doing Business 2019: Training for Reform, released by World Bank, is the 16th in a series of annual reports measuring the regulations that enhance & constraint business activity.
  
  
• Doing Business measures regulations affecting 11 areas of the life of a business.
  • 10 of these areas are included in this year’s ranking: (1) starting a business, (2) dealing with construction permits, (3) getting electricity, (4) registering property, (5) getting credit, (6) protecting minority investors, (7) paying taxes, (8) trading across borders, (9) enforcing contracts and (8) resolving insolvency.
    
    
  • Doing Business also measures labor market regulation, which is not included in this year’s ranking.
    
    
  
  
  
• The DBR ranks countries on the basis of Distance to Frontier (DTF), a score that shows the gap of an economy to the global best practice.
  
  
• Data in Doing Business 2019 are current as of May 1, 2018.
  
  

Key findings:

• Top 5 economies: (1) New Zealand, (2) Singapore, (3) Denmark, (4) Hong Kong and (5) South Korea.
  
  
• The economies with the most notable improvement in Doing Business 2019 are Afghanistan, Djibouti, China, Azerbaijan, India, Togo, Kenya, Côte d’Ivoire, Turkey and Rwanda.
  • For the second consecutive year, India has been recognized as one of the top improvers.
    
    
  • India is the first BRICS and South Asian country to be recognized as top improvers in consecutive years.
    
    
  
  
  
• One-third of all business regulatory reforms recorded were in the economies of Sub-Saharan Africa.
  
  
• Training opportunities for service providers and users are positively associated with the ease of doing business score.
  
  

Indian scenario:

• India is ranked at 77 among 190 countries as compared to its rank of 100 in previous edition.
  
  
• India has improved its rank by 53 positions in last two years and 65 positions in last four years.
  
  
• India’s DTF score improved to 67.23 from 60.76 in the previous year.
  
  
• India has improved its rank in 6 out of 10 indicators: (1) Construction Permit, (2) Trading across Borders, (3) Starting a Business, (4) Getting Credit, (5) getting electricity and (6) enforcing contracts.
  
  
• The most dramatic improvements have been registered in the indicators related to
  • Grant of 'Construction Permits' (in which India's rank improved from 181 in 2017 to 52 in 2018, an improvement of 129 ranks in a single year) and
    
    
  • Trading across Borders (in which India's rank improved by 66 positions moving from 146 in 2017 to 80 in 2018.
    
    
  
  
  
• India has moved closer to international best practices (Distance to Frontier score) on 7 out of the 10 indicators.
  
  
• India is now placed at first position among South Asian countries as against 6th in 2014.