India Faces Challenges in WB's B-Ready Report: GTRI

New Delhi, Dec 31 (PTI) India may face challenges in achieving good scores on parameters like business entry, labour regulations, and international trade in the World Bank's Business Ready report, according to think tank GTRI.

The Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) said as India is preparing for its inclusion in the B-READY framework, its focus should be on leveraging global insights while championing local reforms.

Business Ready (B-READY) is the World Bank's new flagship report benchmarking the business environment and investment climate in most economies worldwide.

The report assesses the regulatory framework and public services directed at firms, and the efficiency with which regulatory framework and public services are combined in practice.

It is replacing the World Bank Group's earlier Doing Business index. In 2020, the World Bank decided to pause the publication of its Doing Business report following a number of irregularities regarding changes to data in previous reports.

"In Business Entry, countries like Singapore offer online business registration within a day at minimal cost. In India, businesses still face multiple steps and incomplete digital integration. India is likely to score moderately on this parameter," it said.


Similarly, in labour regulations, India has introduced the four labour codes, but their implementation remains slow and uneven across states, leading to a moderate low score.

"In international trade, Germany and Singapore simplify customs to promote trade. India, however, struggles with customs delays, inconsistent enforcement, and high logistics costs, which hinder trade efficiency. This gap suggests a moderate score," the GTRI report said.

Further, for business location parameters, India struggles with delays and inconsistent regulations and due to this India may achieve a low score.

However, GTRI Founder Ajay Srivastava said India is expected to score healthy in the three key parameters - Quality of Regulations, Effectiveness of Public Services, and Operational Efficiency.

"The World Bank's B-READY Report offers a valuable lens to evaluate business environments globally, but India must resist overemphasising its rankings," he said.

As a vast and complex economy, the country's challenges - high logistics costs, burdensome GST compliance, limited SME credit access, slow dispute resolution, and the need for digital and green technologies - cannot be fully addressed through standardised metrics, he said.

The B-READY report evaluates ten key areas of a firm's lifecycle.