Reforms can make India a better investment destination: WB

A suburban passenger train goes past high-voltage electricity towers in Mumbai June 20, 2008. India could top the list of business destinations among BRIC nations, if best practices and regulations followed by some cities are implemented by others, a report by World Bank said on Tuesday.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India could top the list of business destinations among BRIC nations, if best practices and regulations followed by some cities are implemented by others, a report by World Bank said on Tuesday.

A study ranked 17 Indian cities on 7 indicators of doing business including starting a business, dealing with construction permits, registering property, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and closing a business.

"By reforming in these 7 areas, India could improve its ranking by 55 levels, placing the country ahead of China, Brazil, or Russia," Penelope Brook, acting vice president, financial and private sector development, World Bank Group, said on Tuesday.

Releasing a report on "Doing Business in India 2009," she said this would reduce time to start a business to 30 days of Mumbai and Noida. The reforms would also lead to creation of more jobs, fall in prices.

If state governments initiate reforms to cut the time of issuing construction licences to the level of Hyderabad- 80 days - it would put India ahead of Germany, she said.

The northern Indian city Ludhiana topped among 17 cities in India where doing business is easier. Hyderabad and Bhubaneshwar were next, while in the communist- ruled states of Kerala and West Bengal, Kochi and Kolkata were at the bottom.

"Cities in India can learn from each other and adopt good regulations and practices that already exist elsewhere," Brook said.

"If all cities were to adopt India's best property registration practices, India's global ranking would improve by 35 ranks to 70 out of 181 economies, on the ease of registering property, overtaking Hong Kong and Kuwait," World Bank said in the report.

Referring to legal reforms, it said separate commercial courts or specialised chambers in existing courts could reduce the time and cost of commercial contract enforcement.

"In India, across 17 cities, it takes on average 961 days to enforce a contract," the bank said, adding the process of closing a business could on average take 7.9 years and would cost 8.6 percent of the estate value.