World Bank: In India it’s hard to do business. Are they right?

Arvind Panagariya, an economics professor at Columbia University and author of India: the emerging giant, says quite clearly: NO!

In a comment piece in the Economic Times, he criticised the World Bank for ranking India 120th out of 178 countries in its 2008 ‘Ease of Doing Business’ index. The rankings suggest that it is easier to do business in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal and Bhutan than in India. But is that what businesses experience?