Ease of doing business: How World Bank ranks countries

India has improved considerably on the ease of doing business index, according to the latest World Bank rankings released on Tuesday. This will greatly help India showcase its business-friendly image and attract wizards of the industry.

But what exactly is Ease of Doing Business? In simple terms, it’s an index created by the World Bank which is a benchmark study of regulation, to know how easy it is for a businessman to start his venture in a country. The index measures steps taken by the government, including policy decisions, to ensure an entrepreneur is able to get loans and credits, construction permits licence etc so that he/she can set up the shop there.

Higher rankings on the Ease of Doing index reflect better and simpler regulation process and stronger protection of rights. The report is announced by the World Bank after a detailed survey of different markets.

The Modi government, since it came to power in 2014, has projected India as investment-friendly destination. It has also launched the 'Make in India' initiative to invite investors from across the globe to set up shop in the country. It also launched the unified Goods and Services Tax in July this year which subsumed all the other state levies so that India’s ranking improves. And it seems to have worked. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who held a press conference on the World Bank report today, said that India has jumped 53 places to rank at 119 on paying taxes.

Last year, India ranked a lowly 172 on paying taxes.