The Narendra Modi government had plenty of reasons to be pleased with the latest edition of the World Bank’s Doing Business (DB) report. India jumped 30 notches in the rankings to reach the 100th position. It was one of the top 10 improvers in this year’s rankings and has implemented reforms in eight out of 10 doing business indicators tracked by the World Bank. Not only has India improved its position in terms of rankings, which is relative, it has also made improvement in absolute terms, measured by the so-called “distance to frontier” metric. In this year’s rankings, India has shown improvement in areas such as paying taxes, dealing with construction permits and resolving insolvency. One indicator that deserves special mention is the protection of minority investors. India is at the fourth position globally in this category. While the government deserves credit for this impressive improvement in the DB rankings, it should not lose sight of the distance India still needs to cover. For instance, despite all the effort, India’s rank in dealing with construction permits is 181 among 190 countries. Even though the DB rankings may not be the sole determinant for attracting investment, the improvement is likely to boost investor confidence as it reflects the government’s commitment to reforms. Therefore, policymakers would do well to build on recent gains with an accelerated pace of reforms in areas such as land, labour and contract enforcement, which will help push investment and growth in the medium to long run.

(Live Mint)