4 states complete reforms in ease of doing business, eligible for Rs 5,034 cr extra borrowing

New Delhi [India], February 6 : The Ministry of Finance on Saturday said four states have undertaken stipulated reforms in the ease of doing business, allowing them to avail additional financial borrowings worth Rs 5,034 crore.
The states getting these benefits are Assam, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab.
"Four more states namely, Assam, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab have undertaken "Ease of Doing Business" reforms stipulated by the Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance. Thus, these states have become eligible to mobilise additional financial resources and have been granted permission to raise additional Rs 5,034 crore through Open Market Borrowings," an official statement by the ministry said.
According to the ministry, the total number of states, which have undertaken the stipulated reforms to facilitate ease of doing business has gone up to 12. Earlier, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Telangana have also reported completion of this reform, which was confirmed by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).
"On completion of reforms facilitating ease of doing business, these 12 states have been granted additional borrowing permission of Rs 28,183 crore," it said.
In additional borrowing, among these states Haryana has received maximum Rs 2,146 crore; followed by Punjab Rs 1,516 crore; Assam Rs 934 crore and Himachal Pradesh Rs 438 crore. The ease of doing business indicator reflects the investment-friendly business climate. The improvement in this area enables faster growth of the state economy.
In May 2020, the government had decided to link the grant of additional borrowing permissions to states that will undertake the reforms to facilitate ease of doing business.
The reforms included the completion of the first assessment of the 'district-level business reform action plan', the elimination of the requirements of renewal of registration certificates, approvals and licences obtained by businesses under various Acts and the allocation of inspectors is done centrally.
On May 17, the Centre enhanced the borrowing limit of the states by 2 per cent of their GSDP to meet the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Half of this special dispensation was linked to undertaking citizen-centric reforms by the states. The four citizen-centric areas for reforms identified were the implementation of the 'One Nation One Ration Card' system, ease of doing business reform, urban local body/ utility reforms and power sector reforms.
"So far, 17 states have carried out at least one of the four stipulated reforms and have been granted reform linked borrowing permissions. Out of these, 12 states have implemented the one nation one ration card system, 12 states have done ease of doing business reforms, 5 states have done local body reforms and 2 states have undertaken power sector reforms," it added.
Total reform linked additional borrowing permission issued so far to the states stands at Rs 74,773 crore.