*Doing Business in India 2009* compares business regulations across 17
Indian cities. The report focuses on local regulations that affect 7 stages
in the life of a small or mid-sized domestic enterprise: starting a
business, dealing with construction permits, registering property, paying
taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, and closing a business.
The report shows that differences in city- and state-level regulations and
practices in the implementation of national-level regulations can enhance or
constrain local business activity. The report suggests that cities in India
can learn from each other and adopt good practices that are already working
within the country.

*Doing Business in India 2009* is the first subnational report fully
dedicated to India. A number of Indian cities were previously benchmarked by
the *Doing Business in South Asia* 2005-07 series. Fourteen out of the
seventeen cities covered in the report introduced local reforms in at least
one of the areas measured. Reforms produced tangible results, such as
reducing the average time to open a business from 54 to 35 days in 10
cities. Time to obtain a building permit was reduced by 25 days on average.

*Main findings*:

   - Doing business is easier in Ludhiana, Hyderabad, and Bhubaneshwar. It
   is more difficult to start and operate a business in Kochi and Kolkata.
   - The number of procedures to open a business ranges from 11 to 13, 8 of
   which are set nationally. Starting a business is fastest
   in Mumbai and Noida (see graph) with 30 days and slowest in Kochi with 41
   days. Business start up is least expensive in Patna at 38% of income per
   capita, while in Mumbai, the cost is almost twice as much.
   - The process to obtain construction-related permits and clearances is
   easiest in Bengaluru,Chennai and Hyderabad, where 15 procedures are
   required, but more cumbersome in Kolkataand Mumbai, where more than 30
   procedures are needed. Cutting the time to the level ofHyderabad - 80 days
   - would put India ahead of Germany.
   - Cities in India do well on the number of procedures required to
   register property - on average, only 5 procedures are needed. This
   performance ranks the average Indian city at 47th out of 181 economies.
   - When compared internationally, Indian cities lag behind in the ease of
   enforcing contracts, closing a business and paying taxes.
   - There are a lot of good local practices and cities can learn from each
   other. If a city in India were to adopt all best practices that already
   exist in the seven areas covered by the report, it would rank 67th out of
   181 economies, improving India’s global ranking by 55 positions.

[image: India - Where it is easiest]

[image: Registering property in Jaipure]   [image: Best practices in India]
source: world bank
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Kushal