Highlights for South Asia

The report compares business regulations in the region with 175 economies around the world. The top-ranked countries are the Maldives (53) and Pakistan (74), followed by Bangladesh (88), Sri Lanka (89), Nepal (100), India (134), Bhutan (138), and Afghanistan (162).

Overview

The Doing Business report investigates the scope and manner of regulations that enhance business activity and those that constrain it. The report covers eight countries in the World Bank’s South Asia region and examines 12 major cities in India, six in Pakistan, and four in Bangladesh.

Afghanistan

Business registration is an area where Afghanistan is close to global best practices. The creation of the Afghanistan Investment Support Agency registration process puts Afghanistan in 17th place worldwide on the ease of starting a business. However, the country scores low on most other doing business indicators and ranks 162 globally.

Bangladesh

Bangladesh recently improved the environment for businesses by introducing the land registration act to reduce fraud in land tenure. Despite improvements in the area of property registration—one of the 10 Doing Business indicators—Bangladesh can still do much better. Bangladesh could jump in the international rankings if it adopted the best practices in business regulation that already exist within the country—from 88th to 62nd on the global Doing Business rankings.

Bhutan

Bhutan ranks138th on the ease of doing business. While wide-ranging reforms have been initiated in Bhutan, implementation is still far from complete. The cost of delaying reforms is high in an increasingly international competitive environment. Progress in reforming business regulations will lead to more investment, job creation and growth.

India

Doing business became easier in India in 2005-2006. Five reforms reduced the time, cost, and hassle for businesses in India to comply with legal and administrative requirements, placing the country in the top 20 reformers worldwide. Of the 12 major Indian cities covered by the report, Hyderabad has the most business-friendly regulations, followed by Bangalore and Jaipur.

Maldives

The Maldives has the highest ranking in the region at 53rd. However, the country made doing business more difficult in 2005-2006 by requiring a mandatory two-month notice period before workers can be dismissed, a move that may especially discourage businesses from hiring poor, low-skilled and young workers.

Nepal

Nepal boasts the simplest property system in the region, with property registration taking 3 procedures, 5 days and costing 6% of property value. Nepal ranks 25th worldwide on the ease of registering property, but ranks 100 on the overall global Doing Business rankings.

Pakistan

Doing business became easier in Pakistan in 2005-2006. Two reforms in Pakistan reduced the time, cost, and hassle for businesses to comply with legal and administrative requirements. Out of the six major Pakistani cities covered by the report, Karachi has the most business-friendly regulations, while Quetta imposes the most complex and costly administrative barriers. Faisalabad, Lahore, Peshawar, and Sialkot rank in between.

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka ranks 89th on the ease of doing business worldwide, the same as last year. This places the country 4th in the South Asia region. However, Sri Lanka made doing business more difficult in 2005-2006 by reintroducing a stamp duty and levied a new tax on profits. Sri Lanka was the most expensive place in the world to dismiss workers after Zimbabwe, Sierra Leone and Egypt.

Resources