PAPER TO BE PRESENTED AT AMTOI DURING THE INTERACTIVE MEETING WITH IPA ON URGENT ACTIONS TO BE TAKEN TO IMPROVE THE PRESENT RANKING OF INDIA ON EASE OF DOING BUSINESS By Ramesh P Kolath Jt Director, FIEO

India’s ranking among the 189 countries. According to World Bank Survey carried out in 2015 India rank 142. Ease of doing business in a country depends upon 10 parameters based on which ranking of countries is done by World Bank every year. In the previous year India was in 140 th position but it declined to 142 in While Economic Survey ( ) in its page 35 has put India in 134 th position the DGFT Committee in its Report issued in December 2014 has maintained in the same position of 142. Some clarifications are to be furnished by DGFT about discrepancies in the Economic Survey ( ) and DGFT Committee report.

Ten parameters given by the World Bank to fix the ranking. India's Ranking Parameters adopted by World BankDB 2015DB Ease of doing business (Overall rank) Starting a business Dealing with construction permits Getting Electricity Registering property Getting credit3630 7Protecting Minority investors721 8Paying Taxes Trading across Borders Enforcing contracts186 11Resolving Insolvency137135

Ports with Negative Growth in %. Sr NoPorts with Negative GrowthPercentage 1Vishakapatanam Port(-) 9.9% 2Chennai Port(-) 4.3% 3Kandla Port(-) 7.0% 4Murmagao(-) 33.7% 5JNPT(-) 3.3%

Sr NoExport ProceduresTimeUSD 1Documents preparation8 days365 2Customs clearance and Inspections2 days130 3 Port & Terminal handling 3 days225 4Inland transportation and handling3 days400 Total16 days1120 Break-up of Transaction Cost (for export)

Break-up of Transaction Cost (for import) Sr NoImport ProceduresTimeUSD 1Documents preparation8 days400 2Customs clearance and Inspections2 days200 3Port & Terminal handling3 days250 4Inland transportation and handling3 days400 Total 20 days1250

World Bank lists 7 documents required (for Export at JNPT) Sr No Documents for Export Sr No Following documents are put in the category of " Required in Specific Cases only" 1Bill of Lading1Certificate of Origin 2Commercial Invoice2Inspection Report 3 Foreign Exchange Control Form ( SAD) 4Packing List 5Shipping Bill 6Technical Standard Certificate 7Terminal Handling Receipt

. Export Documents that can be dispensed Sr NoDocument NameAction Required 1 Foreign Exchange Control Form (SDF ) of RBI SDF has been subsumed in the Shipping Bill 2Packing list Commercial invoice has been made commercial invoice - cum- packing list 3 Technical Stadard Certificate Required in specific cases only. Government will take it up with World Bank for dropping it as a mandatory document 4 Terminal Handling Receipts Issuance of Terminal Handling Receipt / Form -13 /Form-11 can be done away with by automating the process and integrating it with Customs system

. Mandatory Documents for Exports After completion of the above, India like most other developed countries will have only following 3 mandatory documents for exports:- Sr NoDocument Name 1 Bill of Lading 2 Commercial Invoice including details of Packing list 3 Shipping Bill containing Foreign Exchange Control form (SDF) declaration

World Bank lists 7 documents required (for Import clearance). Sr NoDocument NameSr No Following documents are put in the category of " Required in Specific Cases only" 1Bill of Lading1Certificate of Origin 2Bill of Entry2Certificate of Engineers report 3Cargo Release Order3Inspection Report 4Commercial Invoice4Product Manual 5Foreign Exchange Control Form 6Packing List 7Terminal Handling Receipt

. Documents that can be dispensed with (for import clearance) Sr NoDocument NameStatus 1Cargo Release Order Through enhanced EDI operations at Customs and its integration with ports system and CFS, so that Bill of Entry processing details are available at the gate of terminal through electronic message exchange. 2Product Manual Required in specific cases only. The Government needs to take it up with World Bank for dropping these documents as mandatory documents for imports 3 Certificate Engineer's Report 4Inspection Report 5Packing List Can be merged with Commercial invoice as in the case of export 6Terminal Handling Receipt Issuing Terminal Handling Receipts must be automated and integrated with Customs system

. Mandatory Documents for Imports After completion of the above, India will require only following 4 mandatory documents for imports:- Sr NoDocument Name 1Bill of Lading 2Commercial Invoice including details of Packing list 3Bill of Entry 4Foreign Exchange Control Form

Other recommendations 1) Extension of 24 X 7 Customs clearance facility for all types of exports / imports clearance 2) Enabling customs EDI system to accept on line submission of all Export / Import documents 3) Integration of Customs & excise in a common Information Technology platform 4) Implementation of single window project of CBEC 5) Steps for quicker clearance by Regulatory Agencies other than customs 6) Implementing change of system on examination norms with sufficient notice 7) Implementation of existing rules for examination of export cargo 8) Abolition of stamp duty on delivery orders

Conclusion 1) India is facing disastrous decline in export continuously for 10 months. It has to be stemmed 2) Global traders will not come to India to purchase the goods / service if World Bank ranks India at 142 / 189 3) India should be competitive by reducing high transaction cost and transaction time. We must be on par with our competing countries and developed countries 4) Elimination of unnecessary documents and strengthening and expansion of EDI procedures 5) World Bank should be convinced that “ease of doing business” has improved and hence India’s ranking in DB 2016 Report should be put in double digit figures based on 10 criteria laid down in the World Bank’s DB 2015

Thank you Federation of Indian Export Organisations Times Square, Unit No 3A, B Wing 4 th Floor, Andheri Kurla Road, Andheri (East) Mumbai Tel: (D)/ 22 Fax: (91-22) Website: