Uttarakhand tops ease of doing business ranking

Uttarakhand has topped the ease of doing business ranking in the country, Chief Minister Harish Rawat has said, asserting that it was a result of the steps taken by his government to facilitate investment in the state.

"We stood at the 23rd position in the Ease of Doing Business Rankings only 10 months back but today we have climbed to the top of the list. It proves that the state offers the best atmosphere for investments in the country at present," Rawat told reporters here last evening.

"The day we were ranked 23rd in the ranking, we began our efforts to introduce a single-window system for industries and linking different departments with it to attract investors and in just 10 months we have managed to emerge at the top," he said.

The ranking has been made by Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion. These are not final rankings, which will be released in August by the DIPP after thorough analysis and verification of the evidence uploaded by each state.

Departments like urban development, revenue, labour and law have also been asked to simplify their procedures so that the process of land acquisition is easier for investors and labour problems are also overcome, Rawat said.

Claiming that the state has a "better" human resource at its disposal and adequate availability of electricity, he said, the state government was trying to make the most of the situation to attract new industries.

Uttarakhand climbed to the top of the list beating several industrial states which get the bulk of investments normally including Gujarat which is out of the top ten.