India has no single windows only closed doors says former SEBI chairman on ease of doing business

The 'Ease of Doing Business' rankings can go up by focusing on select parameters which are evaluated by the World Bank, former Sebi chairman M Damodaran said on Thursday, doubting if the progress in the list has made it easy for enterprises to operate. He also went public with his criticism on recent statements by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman who reportedly asked bankers to work on relationships.

The country's ranking on Ease of Doing Business (EDB) ranking moved up to 63 for 2019 from the 77th in the year-ago period and 142nd when Narendra Modi came to power in 2014.

"We have improved on rankings, has ease of doing business improved I'm not so sure," Damodaran said, speaking at an event organised by industry lobby CII here.

He said there are ten parameters evaluated by the World Bank and working on them can improve the ranking, and added that India shares the space with sub-Saharan countries in contract enforcement, one of the factors evaluated.

The career bureaucrat-turned-markets regulator and now an expert on corporate governance questioned that if the rankings had indeed moved up, why is investment "shy" of coming to India.

Damodaran said India has been pushing for single-window clearances for the last two decades and quipped, "there are no single windows, but only closed doors" here.

He also stopped himself from commenting on the judiciary of the country for the fear of attracting contempt.

On taxation, he said there are perverse incentives for officials to collect gross taxation without worrying about the refunds and also wondered how creation of multiple slabs and also the options to tax payers will help achieve the goal of simplicity.

Meanwhile, in an apparent retort to Sitharaman urging bankers to ensure borrower relationships continue without loaning, Damodaran wondered how one can sustain a relationship in finance without money exchanging hands.