For the fourth successive year, Andhra Pradesh has topped in the country in ease of doing business index, as per the rankings announced on Tuesday by the Department for Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP), which is under the Union commerce and industry ministry.
Andhra Pradesh stood at No. 1 with a score of 98.42 per cent, while Telangana with 98.33 per cent score has been ranked number two. They are followed by Haryana (98.07 per cent) at number three and Jharkhand (97.99 per cent) and Gujarat (97.96 per cent) at number four and five respectively.
Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Rajasthan are the other states in the top 10 of the list. The national capital Delhi (31.60 per cent) has been ranked 23, dropping from 19 in 2016, in the third edition of the list.
Naturally, such a ranking will give an opportunity to Telugu Desam Party president and chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu to boast about his achievements.
“We have done it again!. Andhra Pradesh is no. in Ease of Doing Business. Reason why some of the best companies in the world are looking here to invest!! Kudos to @ncbn,” tweeted Naidu’s son and IT minister Nara Lokesh.
The announcement of rankings aims to trigger a competition among states, to attract investments and improve the business climate. But despite getting the top rank in the last four years, Andhra Pradesh is not flourishing with industrial development.
It is evident from the way Naidu has failed to bring substantial investments to the state in the last four years. As against his claim of signing Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with various companies committing an investment of Rs 20 lakh crore, the actual investments on ground do not cross more than Rs 20,000 crore.
So, what is Naidu boasting about? Just rankings are not enough. They should translate into real investments!
