India Gains, Singapore Maintains, and Australia Slips in Ease of Doing Business ranking 2016
Singapore holds its top position for doing business once again in the ’13th annual Doing Business 2016: Measuring Regulatory Quality and Efficiency report’ of the World Bank. This report has been released after assessing 189 economies of the world. The dynamic South-East Asian nation has maintained this prestigious position for the last 10 consecutive years.
Ease of Doing Business in Singapore
The annual flagship publication of the World Bank ranks 189 countries on 11 parameters such as starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, paying taxes enforcing contracts, registering property, getting credit, resolving insolvency, protecting minority and cross-border trading.
Singapore strives to maintain its reputation of being ‘easiest place for doing business’ in the world by offering a conducive platform to the business investors and entrepreneurs from all corners of the globe. It takes just 1 or 3 days to form a business in Singapore. The progressive tax policy is another attractive feature that makes the island nation a thriving land for global business players.
How Other Economies Fared in the Ease Of Doing Business Indicator
India shows a forward movement of 12 spots in the ease of doing business, which is a remarkable achievement for such a big economy. The ranking has been jumped to 130 from 142 of last year. Whereas, Australia faces a drop in ranking of 3 places and holds the rank 13th and has fallen out of the top 10. It was replaced by Sweden, which had been ranked 11th position last year.
The rise in India’s ranking for 2016 was essentially on account of improvement in two areas- ease of starting a company and securing an electricity connection. The country has cut down on days required to start a new business. In 2004, it took approximately 127 days to start a business, while, in 2005, the tenure has been reduced to 29 days.
The Global Competitiveness Report 2015-16 suggests that Australia is lagging behind in terms of innovation and competitiveness. This might be the reason for which Australia has fallen behind other progressive nations like Singapore, New Zealand, and Hong Kong.
While Singapore tops the list, New Zealand remained in the second position, followed by Denmark (3), South Korea (4), Hong Kong (5), Britain (6) and the United States (7), Sweden (8), Norway (9) and Finland got the 10th place.
Eritrea declared as the worst place for doing business after Libya, South Sudan and Venezuela.
