“Ease of doing Business”: Odisha aims to be among Top 3

Bhubaneswar: Aiming to figure among the top three states in the country in the ‘Ease of doing Business Indices’, the Odisha government has asked the concerned departments to expedite the implementation of the remaining reform agenda.

The state was placed at seventh position in a recent survey.

Presiding over a high-level review meeting at the State Secretariat here on Saturday, chief secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi directed the departments to expedite the implementation of the remaining actionable points and ensure 100 percent compliance by March 31.

The compliance to the reform agenda by the departments like Commercial tax, Energy, Labour & Employees State Insurance, Industries, Law, Revenue & Disaster Management, Odisha State Pollution Control Board, Water Resources, Housing & Urban Development was reviewed in the meeting.

It was revealed that around 70 percent compliance was achieved in implementation of the reform agenda with departments like Water Resources, OSPCB, Forest & Environment, Industries and Commercial Tax having achieved more than 87 percent of success.

The meeting suggested 340 reform points for making the process of doing business more facilitative and proactive. Out of these, 30 were found ‘not applicable’ to Odisha. So far, around 225 action points have been complied.

Notably, a recent World Bank assessment ranked Bhubaneswar as the third best city in India to do business. This has been also reflected in the latest mobile application of ‘Odisha New Opportunities’ launched by the Industries department.

It was decided in the meeting that state updates on ease of doing business would be uploaded regularly on the Central web portal to reflect Odisha’s competitive position at the national level.