Five more states complete Ease of Doing Business reforms

Five more states Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Meghalaya and Tripura have completed the Ease of Doing Business reforms as stipulated by the Department of Expenditure. With this, a total of 20 states have completed these reforms.

Finance Ministry on Saturday, March 20, 2021, informed that twenty states have completed the 'Ease of Doing Business' reforms as stipulated by the Department of Expenditure (DEP). States completing Ease of Doing Business reforms are eligible for an additional borrowing of 0.25 per cent of Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP).

Ministry of Finance in a tweet said, "20 States implement Ease of Doing Business reforms. Get additional borrowing permission of Rs. 39,521 crore. Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Meghalaya and Tripura are the latest States to complete the reform process."

✅ 20 States implement Ease of Doing Business reforms

✅ Get additional borrowing permission of Rs. 39,521 crore

✅ Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Meghalaya and Tripura are the latest States to complete the reform process

Read more ➡️ https://t.co/ZlicLqU2aN pic.twitter.com/trM9FEEq7c

— Ministry of Finance (@FinMinIndia) March 20, 2021

Accordingly, the Centre has granted permission to these 20 States to raise additional financial resources of Rs 39,521 crore through Open Market Borrowings. These Ease of Doing Business reforms include completion of the first assessment of District Level Business Reform Action Plan and elimination of requirements of renewal of registration certificates, approvals and licences obtained by businesses under various Acts.

Implementation of the computerized central random inspection system in which allocation of inspectors is done centrally, the same inspector is not assigned to the same unit in subsequent years, prior inspection notice is provided to the business owner, and the inspection report is uploaded within 48 hours of inspection is also a part of these reforms.

The Ease of Doing Business is an important indicator of the investment-friendly business climate in the country. These improvements in the Ease of Doing Business will enable faster future growth of the state economy. Therefore, the government of India had in May 2020, decided to link the grant of additional borrowing permissions to states who undertake the reforms to facilitate ease of doing business," the ministry said. The reforms stipulated in this category are:

• Completion of the first assessment of 'District Level Business Reform Action Plan'
• Elimination of the requirements of renewal of registration certificates/approvals/licences obtained by businesses under various Acts.
• Implementation of computerized central random inspection system under the Acts wherein allocation of inspectors is done centrally, the same inspector is not assigned to the same unit in subsequent years, prior inspection notice is provided to the business owner, and the inspection report is uploaded within 48 hours of the inspection.

In view of the resource required to meet the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Government of India had on May 17, 2020, enhanced the borrowing limit of the States by 2 per cent of their GSDP. Half of this special dispensation was linked to undertaking citizen-centric reforms by the States. The four citizen-centric areas for reforms identified were (a) Implementation of One Nation One Ration Card System, (b) Ease of doing business reform, (c) Urban Local body/ utility reforms and (d) Power Sector reforms.