Now, State aims for a 'distinct Number 1'

To compete and be on par with 15 nations adjudged best

After hitting the bullseye for the second consecutive time in the Ease Of Doing Business (EODB) rankings, the State government has set for itself an ambitious target of achieving a “distinct number one” position in the years to come.

In simple words, the State will be competing with other economies in the world to occupy a position on a par with top 15 countries, which have been adjudged the best in the EODB rankings.

The World Bank regularly gives rankings to the economies from 1 to 190.

India used to be in the 130th position a few years ago, and could reach the 100th position due to its sustained efforts.

The Central government, as part of the initiatives in that direction, created competitiveness among the States by giving rankings.

“We have been securing the first position. Now, our target is to be a distinct number one,” said Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu.

Global benchmark

In a bid to achieve global levels of service delivery and adopt best practices, the State moved beyond the Business Reform Action Plan (BRAP)-2017 framework and pro-actively benchmarked its practices with those of the global leaders as per the World Bank’s Doing Business assessment, he said.

Addressing the media here on Wednesday, Mr. Naidu said the government decided to take the BRAP-2018 to the district level, wherein the services would be delivered through district-level offices to enhance simplicity and reduce compliance cost for investors.

In the current year, the government intends to integrate its single desk portal with other departments currently not under its purview, he said.

Andhra Pradesh took various investor-friendly initiatives to achieve a compliance of 70.12% and an overall rank of 2 in 2015.

In 2016, the State achieved 1st rank through its commitment to provide a cohesive business environment to investors by achieving a compliance score of 98.78% while the national average stood at 49.93%.

The single desk portal was considered a good initiative by the World Bank-DIPP in 2016.

The FDI that flowed into Andhra Pradesh was more compared to the national level.

Kia Motors was one of the biggest investments in the country. The investment potential touched ?16.04 lakh crore. The employment potential was 34.03 lakh. While 721 projects had gone into production, the committed investment was put at ?1.48 lakh crore. The committed employment from these projects was 2.26 lakh.

“As many as 808 projects are in advanced stage of implementation, and 1,201 in preliminary stages,” Mr. Naidu added.

Civil Supplies Minister P. Pulla Rao, Municipal Administration Minister P. Narayana, Commissioner (Industries) Siddharth Jain, I&PR Commissioner Venkateshwar were present.