Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi boasted about his efforts to make it easier to do business in the country during a recent visit by German Chancellor Angela Merkel. He ticked off 11 jargon-laden bullet points that he said showed the government’s desire to ease “long-pending concerns of investors.”
India ranks 142 out of 189 countries in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business index, two places lower than when Mr. Modi took office. And the government’s efforts to improve remain a work in progress.
“We have expedited regulatory clearances including security and environmental clearance,” Mr. Modi said.
The Environment Ministry says that between May 2014, when Mr. Modi came to power, and the end of September 2015, it had given 788 large-scale industrial projects the environmental go-ahead. That compares with 498 such permissions in the year ended March 31, 2014, and 439 in the 12 months before that.