Chandigarh slips, ranked 29th

Ramkrishan Upadhyay

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 10

In a major setback to the Administration, Chandigarh has failed to improve its performance on the ease of doing business index announced by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry on Tuesday.

While the city was placed at the 28th rank last year, it has gone a notch down and is ranked 29th in the index this year.

The performance of 29 states and seven UTs was reviewed on the Business Reform Action Plan (BRAP), which includes a total of 372 recommendations framed by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) under the Commerce Ministry. The DIPP has taken feedback from businesses on the quality of implementation of reforms claimed by the states. There are five UTs ahead of Chandigarh in the ranking, including Delhi (23), Daman and Diu (24), Dadra and Nagar Haveli (26) and Puducherry (27). Andhra Pradesh has topped the government’s ease of doing business index among states. It is followed by Telangana and Haryana, which have grabbed the second and third spots, respectively.

In this year’s edition of rankings, the DIPP carried out a comprehensive business-to-government (B2G) feedback exercise, where feedback was taken from businesses on the quality of implementation of the reforms claimed by the states.

The idea behind ranking states is to induce competition to attract investment and improve the business climate. In addition, these rankings indicate that the states have the potential to attract business and undertake various reforms that are being undertaken by the Centre. 

The report is an eye-opener for the Administration, which must ponder on how to improve the environment of the city to make it more business-friendly. No major reforms have been brought in by the Administration in the past — Arun Mahajan, Industrialist

In the absence of business-friendly bylaws, a number of industries have moved out of the city in the recent past. The Administration must change its mindset and make everything online so that all approvals can be taken without any difficulty.— Chander Verma, industrialist

Old buildings and strict conditions have made it difficult for traders to do business in the city. Only a few reforms have been implemented by the Administration, which have made no difference in the ease of doing business.— Charanjiv Singh, trader

The Administration should form a special task force to review all bylaws. The old building bylaws require to be changed. The Administration should hold meetings with industrialists regularly.— Pankaj Khanna, industrialist