1. Ease of Doing Business with India
Afaq Hussain
Bureau of Research on Industry and Economic Fundamentals (BRIEF)
New Delhi, India

2. Ease of Doing Business – What does it measure?
Complexity and Cost of Regulatory Processes
Starting a Business
Procedures, time, cost and paid-in minimum capital to start a limited liability company
Dealing with Construction Permits
Procedures, time and cost to complete all formalities to build a warehouse
Getting Electricity
Procedures, time and cost to get connected to the electrical grid
Registering Property
Procedures, time and cost to transfer a property
Paying Taxes
Payments, time and total tax rate for a firm to comply with all tax regulations
Trading Across Borders
Documents, time and cost to export and import by seaport
Strength of legal institutions
Getting Credit
Movable collateral laws and credit information systems
Protecting Minority Investors
Minority shareholders’ rights in related-party transactions and in corporate governance
Enforcing Contracts
Procedures, time and cost to resolve a commercial dispute
Resolving Insolvency
Time, cost, outcome and recovery rate for a commercial insolvency and the strength of the insolvency legal framework
Labor Market Regulation
Flexibility in employment regulation, benefits for workers and labor dispute resolution
Protecting Minority Investors: India strengthened minority investor protections by requiring greater disclosure of conflicts of interest by board members, increasing the remedies available in case of prejudicial related-party transactions and introducing additional safeguards for shareholders of privately held companies. This reform applies to both Delhi and Mumbai. 

3. Ease of Doing Business – India Report Card
2013
131
2014
140
2015
142
Ease of Doing Business –
India Report Card
Overall Ranking
Indicators
Rank 2015
Rank 2014
Change
Starting a Business
158
156 -2
Dealing with Construction Permits
184
183 -1
Getting Electricity
137
134 -3
Registering Property
121
115 -6
Getting Credit 36 30
Protecting Minority Investors 7 21 14
Paying Taxes
154
Trading Across Borders
126
122 -4
Enforcing Contracts
186
No change
Resolving Insolvency
135
Protecting Minority Investors: India strengthened minority investor protections by requiring greater disclosure of conflicts of interest by board members, increasing the remedies available in case of prejudicial related-party transactions and introducing additional safeguards for shareholders of privately held companies. This reform applies to both Delhi and Mumbai. 
Source: The World Bank – Ease of Doing Business

4. Best Global Performance
Where does India stand?
How easy is to?
India
China
Brazil
Russia
South Africa
South Asia – Reg Avg.
Best Global Performance
Overall Rank
142 90
120 62 43 -
Singapore
Start a Business
158
128
167 34 61 95
New Zealand
Deal with Construction Permits
184
179
174
156 32
118
Hong Kong
Get Electricity
137
124 19
143
122
Korea
Register Property
121 37
138 12 97
127
Georgia
Get Credit 36 71 89 52
Protect Minority Investors 7
132 35
100 17 78
Pay Taxes
177 49
UAE
Trade Across Borders
126 98
123
155
Enforce Contracts
186 14 46
148
Resolve Insolvency 53 55 65 39
125
Finland
Source: The World Bank – Ease of Doing Business

5. FDI inflow to India Main Investing Countries (2013, %)
Mauritius 37
Singapore 11
United Kingdom 10
Japan 7
USA 6
The Netherlands 5
Main Invested Sectors (2013, %)
Service Sector 19
Construction
Drugs and Pharmaceuticals
IT and Software
Telecommunications
Source: UNCTAD,  Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Ministry of Commerce and Industry

6. Dealing with Construction Permits
What are the challenges?
Starting a Business
The cost of starting a business in India is astronomical, and the procedures involved can be daunting without local knowledge.
There are 12 procedures to complete in the initial set up of a business costing 49.8% of income per capita.
It takes almost a month (27 days) to complete the tasks on average, which is well above the OECD average of 12 days.
Dealing with Construction Permits
Construction permits are also a costly pursuit, involving 34 procedures and taking 196 days.
Obtaining Intimation of Disapproval from the Building Proposal Office and paying fees takes around a month, and NOCs must be sought from the Tree Authority, the Storm Water and Drain Department, the Sewerage Department, the Electric Department, the Environmental Department, the Traffic & Coordination Department and the CFO.
Getting Electricity
The cost of getting electricity is relatively cheap in comparison to the rest of South Asia, but the number of procedures involved can be rather daunting.
What’s more, each procedure is in itself quite time constraining, taking around eight days to receive an external site inspection and three weeks to get externally connected, have a meter installed and conduct a test installation

7. Enforcing Contracts and Resolving Insolvency
… Challenges for Investors
Registering Property
Registering a property requires quite a bit of legwork and can also incur substantial charges.
Stamp duty of 5% of the property and a 1% charge on the market value of the property incurred at the Sub-Registrar of Assurances are the two fees to look out for, although the lawyer charges and fees at the Land & Survey Office can also pinch.
Taxation
Businesses operating in India are required to make 33 tax payments a year, taking 243 hours’ worth of attention.
The headline corporation tax rate stands at 30%, but companies can also incur charges in the form of a central sales tax, dividend tax, property tax, fuel tax, vehicle tax, VAT and excise duty.
Enforcing Contracts and Resolving Insolvency
India ranks as one of the worst countries in the world for the ability to enforce a contract, taking an average of 1,420 days.
It takes 4.3 years to resolve insolvency in India, far longer than the South Asian and OECD average

8. Stories of Clashes and Bargains
The British telecom giant embroiled in a tax dispute in India because of a retrospective taxation1 rule brought by the previous government.
The dispute between Vodafone Plc and the Indian government - led to negative perception about ease of doing business in the country.
Vodafone called the government to rationalize taxation across industries, including the heavily taxed telecommunications sector.
And others.. Called for a corrective action to make India a ‘Must Invest’ destination
1 Old proceedings being taxed as per the new rules 

9. SO WHY SHOULD YOU DO BUSINESS WITH INDIA?

10. REPOSITORY OF RESOURCES 1.2 BILLION PEOPLE FAST GROWING ECONOMY
COMPREHENSIVE BANKING NETWORK
EVER GROWING CONSUMER BASE
YOUNGEST POPULATION BASE IN THE WORLD
BIGGEST POOL OF SKILLED AND CHEAP LABOUR
DESTINATION OF LARGE FDI & MULTINATIONALS
STRATEGIC LOCATION FOR INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
India – natural resources - coal (fourth-largest reserves in the world), iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite, rare earth elements, titanium ore, chromite, natural gas, diamonds, petroleum, limestone, arable land
Economy - India averaged 5.83 percent from 1951 until 2014, reaching an all time high of percent in the first quarter of 2010
With 356 million year-olds, India has the world’s largest youth population despite having a smaller population than China

11. India Modi-fied: Fixing the Flight
Starting a Business
Amendment to provisions of the Companies Act to add to the ease of doing business in India - provision to ensure that frauds beyond a certain threshold need to be mandatorily reported by the auditors to the government, relax a number of norms including those pertaining to related party transactions
Amendment to Electricity Act: Choice to buy power from companies of choice
Land Acquisition
Amendment to Land Acquisition bill
The new law facilitates development but balances it with higher compensation, relief and rehabilitation measures for the farmers.  Compensation and RNR package has been made entirely applicable to the thirteen exempted laws
Exempting areas of industrial corridors, social infrastructure, rural infrastructure, housing and defense, from several provisions of current law
No need for consent of 80% of landowners during acquisition
Increased likelihood that landowners will be compensated in projects, such as highways and rail

12. India Modi-fied: Fixing the Flight
Taxation Policy
Rationalizing tax management to end the image of India having an ultra-aggressive tax policy.
Resolving of pending disputes through appropriate mechanisms so that tax structures do not become a disincentive against investments.
Giving major tax rebates to the manufacturing sectors which are facing a slowdown.
Labor Laws
Bill to amend the Labour Laws (Exemption from Furnishing Returns and Maintaining Registers by certain Establishments) Act, 1988
The Bill exempts establishments employing up to 40 workers from filing returns and maintaining registers. Currently the ceiling is 19 workers.

13. And the Course Correction continues…
Outlining the vision of cooperative federalism through the creation of successor to the Planning Commission
Building a national consensus and introducing a bill to amend the constitution to implement the Goods and Services Tax (GST)
Opening the gates of investment by raising FDI limits in the insurance, defense and the railways. The FDI conditions in real estate have been liberalized
Giving major boost to tourism by introduction of e-visa
Deregulation of diesel prices and facilitating the opening up of petrol and diesel sector to private investment
Launching flagship programs such as Make in India, Digital India and Skilled India so that the real image and potential of India is explored
Trade facilitation by allowing 24 X 7 custom clearance on 17 airports and 18 seaports
Banking sectors reforms such as recapitalization of banks, professionalizing managements, bringing Government equity to 52 percent, and allowing greater autonomy to banks and financial institutions

14. Courier Services, Test Marketing
Navigating FDI Caps and Restrictions
Sector
Previous Policy
2014 Revised Policy
Investment Cap
Approval Route
Commodity Exchanges
49% ( FDI + FII )
FDI Cap: 26%
FII Cap: 23%
Government
49% FDI Cap: 26% FII Cap: 23%
Automatic
Insurance
26% ( FDI )
Railways
N/A
100%
Defense Production
49%
Above 49%
Automatic Government
Telecom Services
Up to 49%
Above 49% and up to 74%
Above 49% and up to 100%
Courier Services, Test Marketing
2013’s FDI amendments are now being further augmented under the new Narendra Modi administration, with several sectors significantly increasing the amount of foreign investment permitted. Of particular interest are the hikes that will be seen in the insurance and railway sectors; the former rising from 26% to 49%, and the later from 0% to a massive 100%.

15. Doing Business just got easier: 2014 has been the year of reforms
Validity of Industrial license extended to three years
Process of obtaining environmental clearances made online
All returns should be filed on-line through a unified form
Services of Central Govt. Departments integrated with eBiz – a single window IT platform
Impetus on developing Industrial Corridors and Smart Cities
Make in India - Facilitate investment and foster innovation
New Special Economic Zones
Doing business in India just got easier – new de-licensing and deregulation measures are reducing complexity, and significantly increasing speed and transparency

16. Single window clearance for Central and State level approvals.
Incentives in Special Economic Zones (For Manufacturing Units)
Duty free import/domestic procurement of goods for development, operation and maintenance of SEZ units
100% Income Tax exemption on export income for SEZ units for first 5 years, 50% for next 5 years thereafter and 50% of the ploughed back export profit for next 5 years.
External commercial borrowing by SEZ units up to US $ 500 million in a year without any maturity restriction through recognized banking channels.
Exemption from Central Sales Tax; Service Tax and State sales tax and other levies as extended by the respective State Governments.
Single window clearance for Central and State level approvals.

17. Incentives in Special Economic Zones (For Developers)
Exemption from customs/excise duties for development of SEZs for authorized operations approved by the BOA.
Income Tax exemption on income derived from the business of development of the SEZ in a block of 10 years in 15 years under Section 80-IAB of the Income Tax Act.
Exemption from minimum alternate tax
Exemption from Central Sales Tax & Service Tax

18. INDIA Trillion $ Opportunity
Real time Investment Opportunities are here!
Trillion $
INDIA
Opportunity