Running head: ESSAY 1

Doing Business
The Index measures

The index measures ranks economies based on their ease of doing business, from 1–190.

A high ease of doing business ranking means the regulatory environment is more conducive to

the starting and operation of a local firm. The rankings are determined by sorting the aggregate

distance to frontier scores on 10 topics, each consisting of several indicators, giving equal weight

to each topic.

Methodology used to generate rankings

The ranking uses 11 indicators to measure aspects of business regulation across 190 countries

worldwide. Of the top 20 economies in the list, 14 are high-income OECD economies. However,

many countries are implementing significant reforms. To generate the rankings, Doing Business

presents results for two aggregate measures: the distance to frontier score and the ease of doing

business ranking, which is based on the distance to frontier score. The ease of doing business

ranking compares economies with one another. The distance to frontier score benchmarks

economies with respect to regulatory best practice, showing the absolute distance to the best

performance on each Doing Business indicator. When compared across years, the distance to

frontier score shows how much the regulatory environment for local entrepreneurs in an

economy has changed over time in absolute terms, while the ease of doing business ranking can

show only how much the regulatory environment has changed relative to that in other

economies.

In recent years, Doing Business introduced improvements to all of its indicator sets. In Doing

Business 2015, Resolving Insolvency introduced new measures of quality, while Getting Credit

and Protecting Minority Investors broadened their existing measures. In Doing Business 2016,

Dealing with Construction Permits, Getting Electricity, Registering Property and Enforcing
ESSAY 2

Contracts also introduced new measures of quality, and Trading across Borders introduced a new

case scenario to increase the economic relevance. In Doing Business 2017, Paying Taxes

introduced new measures of post-filing processes and Starting a Business, Registering Property

and Enforcing Contracts added gender components. For the details on the Doing Business

methodology changes, please view the Distance to Frontier metrics.

The India’s Rankings

India is one of the top ten to have improved most this year, although it still ranks 100th. Sub-

Saharan Africa now has the widest variation in performance across the countries ranked: while

Mauritius comes in 25th place, Somalia is 190th. The current ranking places India in the

following position;

i. Ease of Doing Business Ranking: India is ranked number 100

ii. Starting a Business: India is ranked number 156

iii. Dealing with Construction Permits: India is ranked number 181

iv. Getting Electricity: India is ranked number 29

v. Registering Property: India is ranked number 154

vi. Getting Credit: India is ranked number 29

vii. Protecting Minority Investors: India is ranked number 4

viii. Paying Taxes: India is ranked number 119

ix. Trading Across Borders: India is ranked number 149

x. Enforcing Contracts: India is ranked number 164

xi. Resolving Insolvency: India is ranked number 103