India Ease of Doing Business

completed

This project was originally envisioned to provide support to Central and State Government departments in undertaking reform on Doing Business indicators as well as on broader business regulations not covered in the Doing Business agenda. During conception and preimplementation, the project focused on all aspects of the full reform value chain, including: - Helping Government departments understand WHAT TO REFORM;- Assisting Government departments to understand HOW TO REFORM;- Supporting IMPLEMENTATION OF REFORM through the provision of advisory services;- Providing support to MONITOR AND EVALUATE REFORMS; and- Supporting the SUSTAINABILITY OF REFORM through the establishment of institutional structures and other mechanisms. During pre-implementation, the teams work led to a number of important results and lessons:- The development of a DB Reform Memorandum in December 2014 provided the Government with a clear understanding of what needed to be reformed to improve on the DB indicators.- The development of a detailed DB Reform Action Plan based on the Reform Memorandum through consultation with Government andprivate sector in July 2015 informed the Government on how to sequence and bring about reforms.- Inputs from these exercises allowed the Government to implement reforms in the Starting a Business and Getting Electricity indicators in Doing Business 2016, leading to India's first improvement in rank since the 10 indicators were introduced.- These inputs and further consultations also allowed the Government to develop and circulate business reform action plans for all states to implement, covering a wider range of areas outside of Doing Business.- The circulation of the State Business Reform Action Plans, coupled with a report prepared with the teams support that ranked states on business reform implementation, has stimulated states to undertake a wide-ranging reform program.- Central and State Government departments have already employed consultants to implement the reforms, thus removing the need fordirect advisory support on all reforms. Instead, departments have reached out to the team for knowledge on global best practices to help guide reforms, as well as advice on specific reform areas, e.g. on construction permits. Since pre-implementation activities have already led to a detailed understanding on what and how to reform, the project implementationstrategy has therefore been carefully readjusted to focus on only the following parts of the reform value chain:- Assisting Government departments to understand HOW TO REFORM;- Providing support to MONITOR AND EVALUATE REFORMS;and- Supporting the SUSTAINABILITY OF REFORM through the establishment of institutional structures and other mechanisms.This work will be carried out on two fronts: first, with a view to supporting improvement on the DB indicators, and second in stimulating broader reform at the state level. Component 1: Supporting Reforms to Improve Doing Business IndicatorsThe December 2015 DB Reform Memo and the July 2015 disaggregated DB Reform Action Plan provides clear guidance to DIPP and to implementing departments on what to reform and how to bring about the reforms. However, DIPP and implementing departments require additional support in understanding global good practice in each of the reform areas, as well as institutions to coordinate and decide on reforms that span across multiple departments. The focus in this component is therefore to provide knowledge on global best practices to help stimulate reform design, support DIPP in monitoring reforms, and assist in developing institutional structures to successfully implement reforms and sustain the reform momentum. Additionally, specific reform ideas may emerge from these activities that can further be added to the reformaction plan over time. Specifically the team will focus on the following activities:1. Ensure effective implementation through proposed Task Forces: The pro Indicator