Ease of doing business has become a myth in Andhra Pradesh
The State of Andhra Pradesh, which has topped the ranking in Ease of Doing Business followed by Maharashtra and Delhi, last year, now, reportedly losing its rank, follwoing the political turmoil in the State. In fact, a team of researchers led by Dr Tan Khee Giap, co-director, Asia competitiveness institute (ACI), Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore, have announced the 2018 Ease of Doing Business Index Attractiveness to investors, business friendliness, competitiveness policies (ABC) rankings, in the month of January, last year at Amaravati, in the presence of the then Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu. As per the ACI’s EDB index, Andhra Pradesh got first rank in 2018. Emphasising the importance of leadership, Tan recognised Nara Chandrababu Naidu’s dynamic leadership and relentless efforts in shaping a vision for the new sun rise state of Andhra Pradesh. In fact, Naidu also told then in the capacity of Chief Minister that international investors look for stable govt with strong policies before coming forward for investments. Expressing happiness over National university of Singpore ranking Andhra Pradesh as Number in Ease of Doing Business, he has termed it as one more prestigious recognition for the state. quoting Naidu's words that- `we have to meet the expectations of foreign investors’, a senior IAS officer said that several global reseacrh Institutes are not ready to take up any research work, as ease of doing business in AP, has become a myth.
In fact, the Singapore institute also suggested the areas for improvement needed for state of Andhra Pradesh. The report mentioned that despite of AP’s excellent performance in ACI’s EDB index, the govt needs to bridge numerous institutional and infrastructural gaps in order to sustain its position in the future. The ACI team highlighted that there is sufficient room for improvement in sub environments such as facilitating business operations and infrastructure resilience and market potential. Among others workers density, foreign direct investment per capital, labour productivity, illiteracy rate were identified as weakest indicators for the state. The ACI team emphasised that an analysis at the indicator level will help identify specific areas of improvement.. The report will provide recommendations on how AP can leverage on its strengths to overcome its weaknesses and sustain its position in the years to come.
It may be noted that the Asia competitiveness Institute at Lee Kuan Yew school of public policy, national university of Singapore was established as a research centre in 2006 and aims to build the intellectual leadership and network for understanding and developing competitiveness in Asia region. Quoting the ACI's observations, the senior IAS officer said that in the given scenario in Andhra Pradesh, no global investor is ready to venture any innovative project.