Ease of doing business: At number 19, Punjab among the laggards
Though the state officials were expecting a big improvement from the 20th rank the state got in 2017-18, the 19th position has left them disappointed.
Punjab continues to lag behind in the Business Reform Action Plan 2019 (BRAP-2019) rankings representing the performance of states and union territories on ease of doing business.
The state has been placed at number 19 in the ranks announced by the department for promotion of industry and internal trade (DPIIT) for 36 states and union territories at a virtual event chaired by Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
Though the state officials were expecting a big improvement from the 20th rank the state got in 2017-18, the 19th position has left them disappointed.
“The detailed report is still awaited. We will look at areas where improvement is needed,” a senior government official said.
The states were ranked on the basis of implementation of business reform action plan in business regulatory areas such as single window system, access to information, labour, environment, etc.
Punjab had implemented 178 of the 187 reforms suggested by DPIIT. The rankings, which were launched by the Centre five years ago to encourage competition among states for improvement in business environment to attract investments, have also given full weightage to the feedback about the effectiveness of the reforms, according to a government release. In 2016, the state had got 12th position.
