There is more good news for India now, after the fireworks on the cricket field in Johannesburg and elation on Dalal Street following the Fed rate cut.
The World Bank on Wednesday said doing business with India has become easier. India was ranked at 120 among 178 economies on the lending agency's "Doing Business 2008" report, up from a low of 132 last year.
The rankings are based on 10 indicators of business regulation that track the time and cost to meet government requirements in business start-up, operation, trade, taxation, and closure.
India's ranking, however, is lower than that of the Maldives (60), Pakistan (76), Bangladesh (107), Sri Lanka (101), Nepal (111), and Bhutan (119) and ahead only of Afghanistan (159) in the South Asian region.
The rankings do not reflect such areas as macroeconomic policy, quality of infrastructure, currency volatility, investor perceptions, or crime rates. Since 2003 Doing Business has inspired or informed more than 113 reforms around the world.
India, according to the report, has emerged the top reformer in doing trade across borders, where it ranked 79 in 2007, a jump of 63 places over an year go.
"Traders can now submit customs declarations and pay customs fees on-line before the cargo arrives in port. It takes 18 days to meet all the administrative requirements to export , while it took 27 days in 2006. The credit bureau expanded to include payment histories on businesses as well as individuals. And reformers introduced an electronic collateral registry for security," the report said.
"Traders can now submit customs declarations and pay customs fees on-line before the cargo arrives in port. It takes 18 days to meet all the administrative requirements to export , while it took 27 days in 2006. The credit bureau expanded to include payment histories on businesses as well as individuals. And reformers introduced an electronic collateral registry for security," the report said.
Hyderabad emerged as the easiest city in the country to do business; Ranchi the worst. "A hypothetical Indian city with the country's top performance in each of the Doing Business indicators would rank 55 places higher on the ease of doing business than Mumbai," the report said. Stung by the very poor ranking given by the World Bank last year, the Centre had formed a Committee of Secretaries for follow-up action.