The Ease Of Doing Business

Last month, I had to visit the Post office in Nagpur to withdraw my money. Actually, the deposit had matured some days back, but since I was not in the city, I couldn’t withdraw the money. Although I have worked in the government office and am still employed in the public sector, like any other common man, I also get nervous about the thought of visiting any government office. I knew that the post office is a pure government office and it may take longer than a day to get the work done. So, I had kept a spare day for the work, but in the end, murphy’s law acted on me. On the first day which was a Saturday, the Post office got closed by 12.30 PM, so what at the most I could do was to get a form. Monday, I submitted the form to get an answer that there were some more documents needed. Finally, Tuesday (when I was supposed to return to Pune) the executive at the office gave me another form since the savings account was dormant and asked me to come the next day. This callous attitude made my temper rise and I lost my cool (That day was also the hottest day of the month). I yelled at the executive and said that I don’t want to have any relationship with your post office and would like to close all my accounts with the office. My questions prompted two other men to raise their concerns about the ease of doing business. Finally, the chief officer there pacified me with an assurance to issue the cheque. But I was surprised that in the age of cashless and internet-based transactions, why the post office is still asking for hard copy forms and cheques. Maybe the ancient institution is focused only on the pensioners not considering the new generation as their customers. Also, they may prefer relationship-based transactions rather than serving the do-it-yourself millennials. So there are relationship managers cum agents who do the tasks on behalf of their clients. However, today’s business executives want to do it themselves with a speed. Be it booking a cab or ordering food. They do not want agents who delay the process. However, in our country, delaying is a strategy for getting kickbacks or some favour. Although India has consistently been climbing the table in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business (EODB) Index, among BRICS nations, India's ranking is lower than that of China and Russia.

Having spoken on EODB at various fora including IIM, Nagpur, I feel that within the ease of doing business, the focus now is on reduction in compliance burden by using technology, third party assessment and faceless human intervention. The World Bank Group has been ranking economies annually since the year 2003 on the prevailing regulatory environment in terms of 10 parameters to publish its analysis in the Doing Business Report (DBR). These parameters include:

1.    Starting a business

2.    Dealing with construction permits

3.    Getting electricity

4.    Registering property

5.    Getting credit

6.    Protecting minority investors

7.    Paying taxes

8.    Trading across borders

9.    Enforcing contracts

10. Resolving insolvency

However, in many industrial zones, still, new entrepreneurs are struggling even to get support in the first parameter itself. And it is mainly due to the faulty policies, big fat ego of leaders, lack of business acumen and indifferent attitude of officers. One recent case study is one of the prestigious projects in Nagpur. When a foreign delegation with a couple of investors was on a visit to this project, their team lead was shocked to meet the old-age officer heading this project. 'Is he coming from his grave?' was the response of the team lead after the meeting. Also, the team lead was astonished when the officer presenting in the meeting told him that he is just doing his job and he is not interested in the Nagpur posting as he was from Mumbai.

If this is the situation of the ambitious business zones and public sector units of our country, how can we expect projects with big investments to set up here leaving other countries? Everyone would agree that it's difficult to find good officers in the public sector, not because there is a dearth of competent professionals in government. But it's not easy to be a good officer and survive. A good officer will face a lot of occupational hazards for being approachable and efficient. So, many officers choose to be mediocre for their survival not only in the government sector but also in corporate. However, it hampers the overall growth of the PSU and defeats the EODB initiative. Ease of Doing Business is the key to bring good projects which needs agility and promoting excellence instead of mediocrity.

Hope the policymakers are listening….

Also, read my previous blog on ‘The (Dis)Ease of doing Business.’