UKIBC: 6TH ANNUAL REPORT ON DOING BUSINESS IN INDIA

6TH ANNUAL REPORT ON DOING BUSINESS IN INDIA

Question: UK Minister for investment, Lord Gerry Grimstone, has recently released UK India Business Council’s ‘DOING BUSINESS IN INDIA REPORT 2020’ at a roundtable with Indian industry captains during his virtual visit to India. This year’s report is based on an in-depth survey of —
(a) 106 UK organisations operating in India
(b) 76 UK organisations operating in India
(c) 116 UK organisations operating in India
(d) 126 UK organisations operating in India
Answer (a)
Related facts

  • UK Minister for investment, Lord Gerry Grimstone, has recently(October 2020) released UK India Business Council’s ‘DOING BUSINESS IN INDIA REPORT 2020’ at a roundtable with Indian industry captains during his virtual visit to India.
  • Report outline the point of view of UK businesses and higher education institutions on India’s business environment and the ease of doing business.
  • This year’s report is based on an in-depth survey of 106 UK organisations operating in India.
  • This report details why companies want to do business in India, the challenges they face in doing so, priorities for the future, and rating of India’s business environment.
  • It is notable that in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) rankings, India has made extraordinary – and indeed unprecedented – progress in recent years, rising from 142nd globally in 2014 to 63rd in 2019.

Findings of the report
Some of the key findings of this report include:

  1. In spite of new challenges to business such as Brexit, COVID-19, and the global economic slowdown, UK companies not only remain deeply committed to India, but many are optimistic of expanding their business footprint in India.
  2. More than three-quarters of respondents were positive about Atmanirbhar Bharat, believing it is an opportunity to do more investments in India and expand the trading ties.
  3. the most frequently selected obstacle to business was ‘legal and regulatory barriers’ with just over half of all respondents selecting it in their top 5.
  4. The second greatest barrier was ‘price points’. In contrast to legal and regulatory barriers, this has been a noticeable increase as compared to previous years apparently due to the pandemic-induced pressure on margins.
  5. Completing the top 5 were ‘taxation issues’, ‘corruption’, and ‘finding a suitable partner’.
  6. ‘Telecommunication facilities’, ‘the availability of support and service providers’, ‘the availability of skilled labour’, and ‘the availability of supply chain’ were the top 4 most noted strengths in India’s business environment.
  7. More than half of respondents identified ‘improving bureaucratic processes with accountability’ as one of their top 5 reform priorities, making it the most frequently cited. ‘Increasing regulatory certainty’ was the second most popular reform, followed by ‘simplification of the GST processes’ and ‘improving the quality of infrastructure’.
  8. For the third year running, Maharashtra came out as the state with maximum incremental improvement, followed by Karnataka, Delhi, Gujarat, and Tamil Nadu, in that order. Next in sequence were Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Chandigarh and Haryana to complete the top ten.

By — Pankaj Pandey.

Link:
https://www.ukibc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/UKIBC-Doing-Business-in-India-Report-2020.pdf