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Country Snapshot - India  

HighlightsRankingsQuantitative DataLegislationAnalytical WorkProject Portfolio
  • South Asia
  • Lower middle income
  • 1,170,938,000 (2011)
  • 1,340
India Flag
Below are select highlights for the data included in the profile.

  1. According to the latest Enterprise Surveys (2006), Electricity, Tax Rates and Corruption represent the top constraints on firm investment in India.
  2. India’s restrictions on foreign equity ownership are greater than the average of the countries covered by the Investing Across Sectors indicators in the South Asia region and of the BRIC (Brazil, Russian Federation, India, and China) countries. India imposes restrictions on foreign equity ownership in many sectors, and in particular in the service industries. Sectors such as railway freight transportation and forestry are dominated by public monopolies and are closed to foreign equity participation. With the exception of certain activities specified by law, foreign ownership in the agriculture sector is also not allowed.
  3. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, there is incipient doubt about whether the Indian National Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) coalition government will complete its five-year term, which ends in 2014. Security will vary from one region of India to another. The violent insurgency waged by Naxalite (Maoist) groups across large swathes of central and eastern India is becoming the country's most serious security problem. Economic reform is expected continue only incrementally. The government is likely to restrict its focus to targeted spending and piecemeal changes, rather than attempting to implement more sweeping structural reforms.
  4. India’s economic freedom score is 54.6, making its economy the 124th freest out of 183 countries in the 2011 Index. Its score is 0.8 point better than last year, with improved scores in four of the 10 economic freedoms, including a large gain in labor freedom. India is ranked 25th out of 41 countries in the Asia–Pacific region, and its overall score is below the world average. Despite the challenging global economic environment, the Indian economy has recorded average annual growth of around 8 percent over the past five years, propelled by domestic demand and continuing strength in services and manufacturing. However, growth is not deeply rooted in policies that support economic freedom. Progress with market-oriented reforms has been uneven.

Subnational Doing Business Report

Doing Business in India 2009 compares business regulations across 17 Indian cities. The report focuses on local regulations that affect 7 stages in the life of a small or medium-size domestic enterprise:  starting a business, dealing with construction permits, registering property, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, and closing a business.

Doing Business in India 2009, the first subnational report fully dedicated to India, found that differences in city- and state-level regulations as well as the implementation of national-level regulations can enhance or constrain local business activity. A number of Indian cities were previously benchmarked by the Doing Business in South Asia 2007 report.

Main Findings
  • In Doing Business in India 2009, 14 out of the 17 cities covered in the Doing Business in South Asia 2007 report introduced local reforms in at least one of the areas measured.
  • Reforms produced tangible results, such as reducing the average time to open a business from 54 to 35 days in 10 cities.
  • The time to obtain a building permit was reduced by 25 days on average.
  • Doing business was easier in Ludhiana, Hyderabad, and Bhubaneshwar. It was more difficult to start and operate a business in Kochi and Kolkata.

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