In a move to increase ease of doing business for start-ups, the government is planning to exempt them from procedural hassles such as various registrations and income tax processes, said Amitabh Kant, Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP).

The government is hopeful that India’s ranking in the World Bank’s ease of doing business index will improve this year due to the measures being taken to dismantle unnecessary procedures, Kant said, adding that it was well on its way to being among the top 50 countries.

On the need to aid the large number of start-ups coming up across the country, the Secretary said that the challenge was to provide them with a conducive environment where they do not get smothered by procedures and regulations.

The Secretary also stressed on the need to simplify the regulatory framework which governs various micro small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

Commenting on the World Bank’s ease of doing business ranking, Kant said that it was flawed as it used inputs from Delhi and Mumbai while industries had moved out of the two cities to areas such as Haryana, Pune, Nashik and Aurangabad.

The DIPP’s report on ranking of States, on the other hand, focuses on performance of all States in the country. The report, which the Centre brought out with technical assistance from the World Bank and KPMG, will be improved further next year by basing assessment on 336 parameters on doing business parameters as against 100 this year.

“We will name and shame States that under-perform on ease of doing business parameters. We will also ensure start-ups don’t have to go through complicated procedures,” Kant said.

India was ranked 142 among 189 nations in the World Bank’s ‘ease of doing business’ 2015 report, two notches lower than the previous year.