Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Gujarat among top achievers in 'ease of doing business' ranking of States, UTs

Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh have been categorised as Achievers in the ranking. 

Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Telangana are the seven States categorised as top achievers in the ranking of States and Union Territories based on the implementation of the business reform action plan 2020, according to a report released by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday.

Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh have been categorised as Achievers in the ranking.  The broader aim of the exercise is to boost investor confidence, foster a business-friendly climate and augment the ease of doing business across the country by introducing an element of healthy competition through a system of assessing states based on their performance in the implementation of Business Reforms Action Plan (BRAP). The Aspires category too includes seven states, including Assam, Kerala and Goa.  Other states in this section are Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Kerala, Rajasthan and West Bengal.

In the category of emerging business ecosystems, there are 11 states and UTs, including Delhi, Puducherry and Tripura.

Andaman and Nicobar, Bihar, Chandigarh, Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Jammu and Kashmir, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, and Tripura are the other states and UTs in this section.

The commerce and industry ministry has this time changed the system of ranking by making it category-based - top achievers, achievers, aspires, and emerging business ecosystems - against the earlier practice of announcing ranks.

Secretary in the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) Anurag Jain said the difference between various states/UTs was so little that it did not make sense to rank them but rather put them in various categories.

The BRAP 2020 includes 301 reform points covering 15 business regulatory areas, such as access to information, single window system, labour and land administration.