New Delhi: India has managed to improve its ranking in World Bank’s latest ease of doing business report to be released on Wednesday, a person familiar with the development said.

“The improvement is significant," said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Finance minister Arun Jaitley and commerce minister Suresh Prabhu will release the report later in the evening.

For the Narendra Modi administration, the development is a welcome news and endorses its reform credentials amid a series of crises ranging from India’s controversial purchase of Rafale fighter jets in a deal with the French government, an unprecedented crisis involving the top brass in the apex investigating agency, the Central Bureau of Investigation, and serious differences emerging between the finance ministry and the Reserve Bank of India.

The central government has in the last several months taken specific measures to address impediments to doing business in the country identified by the multilateral agency. These include simplifying the processes in cross-border trade, municipal permissions relating to land and buildings, and enforcement of contracts. The idea is to cut red tape, reduce the cost and time taken in transactions for businesses, and improving efficiency in governance.

Prime Minister Modi’s goal is to make India one among the top 50 nations in ease of doing business.

In the World Bank’s ease of doing business ranking 2018 released in October 2017, India’s overall position had moved up 30 places to 100 from a year ago. In the case of doing business ranking 2018, India had scored 154 in registering property and 181 in dealing with construction permits. The ranking for 2019 to be released on Wednesday is expected to see improvement in these sub-categories too.

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