EoDB rank: Low satisfaction among investors triggers Rajasthan’s fall

Efforts of Rajasthan government to ease business is losing ground. It has been on account of a fairly low satisfaction level among investors that made  the state slip three positions in Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) ranking by Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP). The state while scored 99.46 per cent on the reforms criteria had a 66.44 per cent score on investors’ feedback to the department. These scores have got Rajasthan stand at the 9th position with an aggregate score of 95.68 score.

The ranking takes into account progress achieved by the state in implementation of business reform action plan of DIPP drafted with World Bank assistance. The investor feedback has only been introduced as a major component from this year. 

“The reforms made by government need to be adequately passed on to the grass roots of governance. Rajasthan has made good progress on reform part, yet it’s lack of implementation that is a cause of concern for investors,” says SP Sharma, chief economist, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry. 

Impact of investor feedback was much visible on the rankings this year. States of Odisha and West Bengal that were ahead of Rajasthan last year were left behind while Karnataka, MP, Jharkhand, Gujarat and AP jumped ahead.

Andhra Pradesh with 99.73 per cent reform score and 86.5 per cent investor feedback topped the chart, while Telangana with a 100 per cent on reform score came second as investors satisfaction remain at 83.95 per cent. 

In Rajasthan, the concerns of investors are more related to land. It has been inability to digitally integrate land records and their mutation between registrar and other offices that kept Rajasthan shy of 100 per cent on the reforms side. Of all the 372 criteria of reforms under action plan of DIPP, Rajasthan has not been able to implement criteria number 73 requiring integration land records data to facilitate property wise mapping of transactions and criteria 77 that calls for integration of registration and mutation process. 

Work To Be Done

Even as the state was able to implement reforms of single window clearance system required in the action plan, the investors were unable to access the services. Thus there remains work to be done on sensitising the investors as well as local offices regarding the reforms.