DNA Money Edit: Ease of doing biz: India's long trek

India's jump to the top-100 in the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business global rankings is indeed a matter of pride for the country and it surely brings cheer to India Inc. The first-time feat comes on the back of sustained business reforms over the past few years. What makes it more exciting is the fact that India is one of the top 10 countries that have shown improvement in this year's assessment, having implemented reforms in eight out of 10 Doing Business indicators.

In the list led by New Zealand and Singapore, the US is at the 6th spot and the UK at 7th. Bhutan and Nepal are at 95 and 105, respectively. The UAE is ranked 21st and China 78th.

This year, the eight indicators for various reforms implemented in Delhi and Mumbai, the two cities covered by the report, include starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting credit and protecting minority investors, among others. The report says on the "distance to frontier metric," one of the key indicators in the survey, India's score went up to 60.76 from 56.05 in 2017. This indicates that the country has improved its business regulations in absolute terms in one year.

The government has now set more ambitious targets for itself. India is seeking to reach the 90th rank in 2017-18 and 30th by 2020. Definitely, it is a long trek ahead.