Goa was ranked at a distant 24th place among the States in the ease of doing annual business ranking of states and Union Territories by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade.
The Goa government, despite several assurances on ease of doing business for industries, have only flattered to deceive. Last year, Goa was ranked 19 in the country.
It may be noted that Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, in a bid to woo global investors into the State had promised around 500 delegates that all statutory approvals will be granted within 30 days.
Sawant was delivering the keynote address at the Vibrant Goa summit held at Bambolim.
It is over a year since then, industries are facing the same hurdles in setting up their units with the Investment Promotion Board failing in its duties as facilitators and policy makers.
PTI ADDS: Andhra Pradesh for the third time in a row topped the rankings that are based on the implementation of the business reform action plan 2019, according to a report released by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday.
Registering a jump of 10 places in the rankings, Uttar Pradesh occupied the second position in 2019 as against 12th in 2018.
Telangana slipped to the third position from second in 2018. It was followed by Madhya Pradesh (4th), Jharkhand (5th), Chhattisgarh (6th), Himachal Pradesh (7th), Rajasthan (8th), West Bengal (9th) and Gujarat (10th).
Delhi's position improved to 12th from 23rd in the last edition, while Gujarat slipped from 5th place in 2018.
Releasing the report, Sitharaman said that states have taken the exercise in its true sense and it would help states and UTs to become better place to do business.
Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said these rankings reflect the efforts that states and UTs are doing to better their systems and processes.
It is also a wake-up call for those states which have slipped in the ranking, he said.
Goyal said that the ministry is working on steps like creating a single-window system for approvals and clearances.
In the 2015 index, Gujarat featured at the top, with Andhra Pradesh grabbing the second position and Telangana 13th. In 2016, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana jointly topped the chart. In the last ranking released in July 2018, Andhra Pradesh topped the chart, followed by Telangana and Haryana (3rd).
Haryana slid to 16th position in the latest ranking.
The exercise is aimed at promoting competition among states with a view to improving the business climate to attract domestic as well as foreign investments.
This was the fourth edition of the report, which was first released in 2015. The Business Reform Action Plan 2018-19 includes 181 reform points covering 45 business regulatory areas such as access to information, single window system, labour, and environment.
The DPIIT in collaboration with the World Bank conducts an annual reform exercise for all States/UTs under the Business Reform Action Plan.
