Table of Contents
Ease of Doing Business
- India jumped 14 places to the 63rd position on the World Bank’s EASE OF DOING BUSINESS Ranking.
- India has also figured among the top 10 performers on the list for the third time in a row.
- The rankings come at a time when the RBI, World Bank, IMF and various rating agencies have slashed the country’s growth forecasts amid a slowdown in the global economy.
- India was ranked 142nd among 190 nations when Prime Minister Narendra Modi took office in 2014.
- India is the first country of its type to achieve this scale.
- Apart from India, the other countries on this year’s ‘top 10 performers’ list are Saudi Arabia (62), Jordan (75), Togo (97), Bahrain (43), Tajikistan (106), Pakistan (108), Kuwait (83), China (31) and Nigeria (131).
- In 2015, the government’s goal was to join the 50 top economies on the ease of doing business ranking by 2020.
- And to come under 25 or below 50, the Modi government needs to announce and start implementing next set of ambitious reforms now, as these reforms takes a few years to be realized on the ground.
- One of the main reasons for improvement in India’s ranking this year goes to the successful implementation of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, the World Bank official said.
Fitch Slashes GDP Growth
- Fitch Ratings has cut India’s GDP growth forecast in the current fiscal to 5.5%.
- Large credit squeeze emanating from shadow banks has pushed economic growth to a six-year low.
- Recent government measures to boost economy, including a cut in corporate tax rates, will gradually nudge growth.
- Fitch: GDP expansion will pick up to 6.2% in the next financial year (2020- 21) and to 6.7% in the year after.
- Weakness has been fairly broad-based, with both domestic spending and external demand losing momentum.
- Asian Development Bank: 6.5%
- Moody’s Investors Service: 5.8%
- International Monetary Fund: 6.1%
- World Bank: 6%
ET India Dialogues Panel discussion
- Gig economy: a labour market characterized by the prevalence of short-term contracts or freelance work as opposed to permanent jobs
- Gig economy which employs millions of people in India through a slew of startups, may not be the best model for job creation in the country which is struggling with realising the full potential of its demographic dividend
- Employees of Swiggy, Zomato, Uber, Ola etc are not considered ‘traditional employees’ and are paid per order or ride.
- Unorganised sector in India is at 92%.
- The above given jobs had some merits, especially as they brought more workers into the organised sector.
- But the quality and longevity of such employment still leaves a great deal to be desired.
- A bias in favour of merely “creating jobs” among policymakers could lead to adverse results.
- Benefits such as retirement and insurance are of particular concern in India.
- Formal workers pay into a provident fund account and large employers typically offer group health insurance.
French Media vs Google
- French media said on Thursday they would report Google to the country’s competition regulator over its refusal to pay news companies for displaying their content in defiance of a strict new EU copyright law.
- The APIG press alliance, which groups dozens of national, regional and local newspapers, said it would also press the French government to take action against the US internet giant.
- International news AFP, which is not a member of the alliance, said it was preparing a separate complaint.
- France was the first country to ratify a new EU copyright law that ensures publishers are compensated when their work is displayed online.
- But Google said articles, pictures and videos would be shown in search results only if media firms consent to let the tech giant use them for free.
- If they refuse, only a headline and a bare link to the content will appear, Google said, almost certainly resulting in a loss of visibility and potential ad revenue for the publisher.
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