Govt trying to ensure benefits of ease-of-doing-biz reaches ground level: FM

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday said the central government is engaging with states and local administrations to ensure that benefits of Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) initiatives reach the ground. EoDB is not just the Centres responsibility but that of states as well, she added. “Central Government can bring in rules, meaningful regulations, remove many of the burdens and give it as a policy. It can be implemented in Union Territories for which the Government of India is directly responsible but further down it is the State governments, which also equally have to do it,” she said. Similarly, municipal areas will have to do their part and panchayats will have to also pitch in, Sitharaman said while interacting with students here. The Government of India is engaging with different layers of administration so that this ease continues across the country, she noted. The World Banks Ease of Doing Business Report 2019 placed India at the 63rd spot in Doing Business, compared to 77th rank in 2018. The World Bank Group in 2021 decided to discontinue publication of its Doing Business rankings of country business climates after data irregularities in the 2018 and 2020 reports. For raising tax compliance, Sitharaman said, the government has taken many initiatives to encourage taxpayers to fulfil their obligation towards nation building.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Federal staff and is auto-published from a syndicated feed.)