The two Telugu States, which had been in a competitive mode to attract investments after bifurcation, have bagged top two ranks in the country in the ‘Ease of Doing Business’ parameters for 2016 pending official declaration.

Both the States scored 98.78 per cent in implementation of business reforms. Gujarat bagged third rank with 98.21 per cent and Rajasthan — fourth with 97.62 per cent. The ranks of other south Indian states are: Karnataka-13, Tamil Nadu- 18 and Kerala -20.

Though an official announcement is yet to be made by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), of the Government of India, its portal however listed the ranks along with the score for the States and UTs. Of 340 parameters, Andhra Pradesh answered in positive to 325 and Telangana to 324 points.

The ranks were given on the basis of a 340-point Business Reform Action Plan for States and Union Territories circulated by the DIPP in October, 2015 to ensure ease of doing business for faster economic development across the country.

The DIPP recently completed its video conferences with all the States in the final schedule that ended on October 19 for seeking clarifications on the details submitted by them on implementation of various business reforms.

Both the States responded in negative to four reforms pertaining to integration of data at sub-registrar’s office, land records office and local municipality office, integration of land record databases with mortgage and judicial databases to provide full picture of encumberances on a property and system for issuing digitally signed court orders like elsewhere in the country.

In 2015, Gujarat stood first in the country followed by Andhra Pradesh.