The End of the Ease of Doing Business Rankings

Table of Contents

Ease of Doing Business Rankings: Context

Recently World Bank informed it had paused the next Doing Business report and initiated a series of reviews and audits of the report and its methodology.
World Bank also informed that it will be working on a new approach to assessing the business and investment climate.

Ease of Doing Business Rankings was paused as World Bank found data irregularities on Doing Business 2018 and 2020 which were reported internally in June 2020.
Ethical Issues: Distortion of data in the internal reports raised ethical matters, including the conduct of former Board officials as well as current and/or former Bank staff, leading to this decision of World Bank.

Background: The Ease of Doing Business Report was introduced by the World Bank in 2003.
Objective: to provide an assessment of objective measures of business regulations and their enforcement across 190 economies.
Parameters used for Ranking: Ease of Doing Business Report used the following ten parameters-
1. Starting a Business,
2. Dealing with Construction permits,
3. Electricity availability,
4. Property registration,
5. Credit availability,
6. Protecting minority Investors,
7. Paying Taxes,
8. Trading across borders,
9. Contracts enforcement, and
10. Resolving Insolvency.
Significance of Ease of Doing Business Report:
- Informs the actions of policymakers,
- Helps countries make better-informed decisions, and
- Allows stakeholders to measure economic and social improvements more accurately
- Acts as a valuable tool for the private sector, civil society, academia, journalists, and others, broadening understanding of global issues.

India showed the most notable improvement in 2017, 2018, and 2019 Ease of Doing Business Ranking.
- India’s 2017 Ranking- 100^th Rank
- India’s 2018 Ranking- Placed at 77^th Position
- India’s 2019 Ranking (most recent)- Secured 63^rd Ranking
India’s ranking in the Ease of Doing Business Report basically depended on the performance of only two cities- Delhi and Mumbai.
- Weightage of Mumbai- 47%
- Weightage of Delhi- 53%