With intense competition between states over the Ease of Doing Business rankings, Telangana seems to be leading the race so far, according to the Union Commerce Ministry’s Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP).
The year began with Bihar in the lead but for past few months Uttarakhand was leading the race. Now, Telangana is on top, leaving behind Andhra Pradesh in the second position.
It is reported that the gap between the two states is just a hundredth of a percentage point, as Telangana has a score of 96.98 percent compared to Andhra's 96.97 percent.
The s main motive behind the ranking is to encourage states to improve business processeand the states have taken the ranking seriously.
According to the Telangana government, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has provided quick clearances and has minimized the human interface by introducing online systems for processing of applications and granting various permissions and incentives to business and industry under ease of doing business.
Telangana has improved its ranking from 13th position in the September 2015 list, achieving the first position now, while Andhra Pradesh was ranked at second position. In July 2016, preliminary rankings revealed that Andhra fell to 19th rank, while Telangana held the 2nd.
Within a month, Andhra climbed to third rank from 19th, while Telangana remained at the same second rank.
Gujarat, which topped Ease of doing business ranking last year, has fallen to third position.
The Times of India reported that:
Telangana has taken 27 steps each on easing construction permit related regulations and setting up systems for single-window clearances. In Andhra, construction permits (29) have taken primacy to single window (28), a trend similar to Gujarat, which has listed 27 steps on construction permit and 25 on single window approvals.