Tough business regulatory framework and time consuming processes inhibited India’s potential as economic powerhouse. Under the Make in India initiative launched in 2014, steps were taken to improve India’s ranking in the World Bank's Doing Business Report among the top 50 economies. The report aims to measure the costs to firms of business regulations in 190 countries, The government thus adopted a focused approach towards business regulatory reforms in the country. Critical measures and best practices were identified, which helped top ranking countries improve on Doing Business Index. These measures were then customised to devise an implementation strategy for India. This led to increased adoption of electronic systems for approvals, reduction in number of procedures necessary to obtain clearances and doing away with obsolete rules. Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) designed teforms keeping ground realities in mind. To assess the effectiveness of implemented reforms, regular consultations were held with the World Bank’s Doing Business team to seek inputs/feedback. Implemented reforms were aggressively disseminated through a variety of sources including social and print media. Awareness Workshops were organised to promote reforms undertaken by the Central Government, which helped in generating awareness among investors/users and enable DIPP to garner usage of implemented reforms. DIPP was keen to percolate these learnings to the state level. A State Business Reforms Action Plan was thus launched... Read More