COUNTER VIEW: Don't take the report seriously

There's no doubt that India is a difficult country for doing business, but facilitating business doesn't tell the whole story. The World Bank indicators are limited in scope and cover only business regulations. They do not account for other factors that attract investments such as a large market and strong economic fundamentals. Countries like Azerbaijan and some African countries may have reformed faster in making business regulations easier, but that doesn't mean that those countries are qualitatively better placed to attract investments.
Investment decisions depend on macroeconomic factors, potential for return on investments and human capital.Countries like Nepal and Bangladesh, which are ranked higher, may have eased their regulatory framework, but that still doesn't make them more attractive than India. These countries are politically unstable and offer very little business opportunities. India, on the other hand, is a large and stable democracy with a huge business potential.
Sure, reports like this give an insight into what the investing community thinks about the business environment in a country and, therefore, provide an impetus for governments to carry out reforms. But India is a complex and heterogeneous country.
Property acquisition, which might take a long time in West Bengal, can be done quicker in Karnataka or Gujarat. Similarly, there are variations in all other indicators across states. To make generalisations may be misleading. The report says that India is lagging not because it has done anything wrong but because it has not moved ahead. However, it's unfair to rank a country on the basis of skewed inferences, considering that this report is used as a reference by private investors to park funds.
It is also not right to highlight the comparisons between India and other South Asian economies as their size, population and complexity are far less compared to India's. The report appears to be a subjective one. Therefore, its results cannot be taken very seriously.
VIEW: This is bad for India's image