India among World Bank's top reformers

India has emerged as one of the top reformers and it could improve its ranking further in the years to come, but entering the top 50 ranking could be tough, World Bank officials said Wednesday.

"India is one of our top reformers, one of our top 10 performers. It was also on the top 10 list last year.. two years in a row, which is sometimes very difficult to do," Shanta Devarajan, the World Bank's Senior Director for Development Economics and Acting Chief Economist, told PTI in an interview.

The World Bank, however, cautioned that entering the top 50 bracket - the goal set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014 - is tough as the next set of reforms is difficult though it is not possible.

The World Bank in its latest Doing Business 2019 report said that India has improved its ranking in ease of doing business from 131 two years ago and 100 last year to 77 this year. Achieving a ranking of 77 from 131 in two years is a "considerable improvement" for India, but entering the top 50 ranking is very difficult, said Rita Ramalho, Senior Manager of the World Bank's Global Indicators Group.

"Actually, it is much harder, the closer you get to number one ranking. The better the rank, the harder it is to improve... I was actually somewhat surprised of how the big the improvement this year it has been for India. So, you never know, India may be able to get it and get big enough improvement to reach the 50 ranking," Ramalho said.

According to the latest World Bank report, there are some areas where India is lagging far behind the global rankings, the officials pointed out. For instance, India is placed at 137th when it comes to starting a business. India takes 1,445 days on an average to resolve a commercial dispute. In high income economies, it is 582 days.
        
"This is something that has not changed. Probably one of the more challenging reforms in India is to get the judiciary on board to improve that part," Ramalho said.

(With PTI inputs)