In News:

• The Indian government plans to align indicators of the BRAP 2024 index with the World Bank’s B-READY index to enhance business readiness rankings.
• State Involvement: States have been instructed to address gaps identified in the B-READY evaluations to improve their global rankings.
• Indicators Included: The upcoming 2024 BRAP rankings, prepared by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, will incorporate specific indicators from the B-READY index.
• Enterprise Survey Launch: An enterprise survey for the B-READY index in India is set to start in October, with support from the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.
• Participation Timeline: Although B-READY rankings will commence in 2024, India’s participation will begin in 2026. The initial rankings will cover 54 countries, expanding to 120 in 2025 and 180 in 2026.
• Successor to Previous Rankings: The B-READY index replaces the Ease of Doing Business rankings, which were discontinued in 2021 due to irregularities. It considers a broader range of factors in its assessments.
• Benchmark for Global Institutions: The B-READY framework will serve as a benchmark for global financial institutions and multinational companies to evaluate a country’s regulatory and policy environment.
• Historical Improvement: India improved its Ease of Doing Business ranking from 142 in 2014 to 63 in 2020.
• Technical Understanding: A team of government officials is tasked with understanding the technical aspects of the B-READY index to formulate strategies for improving India’s score.
• Lifecycle Parameters: The new index tracks ten parameters throughout a firm's lifecycle, including business entry, utility services, and labor, focusing on real-world applications rather than just legal changes.
• Recent BRAP Rankings: The BRAP 2022 rankings were recently announced, with Andhra Pradesh and Kerala achieving the top positions.