Ahmedabad in the list of Indian cities for a ranking on 'Doing Business in India - 2009'

The World Bank has included Ahmedabad in the list of Indian cities for a ranking on 'Doing Business in India - 2009'. The World Bank, which brings out the report in association with the International Finance Corporation, agreed to include Ahmedabad after the Gujarat government made a strong representation for including the city in this survey to determine the investment climate across India. The World Bank's earlier report 'Doing Business in India - 2007' did not take into account Ahmedabad while it covered Bangalore, Bhubaneshwar, Kolkata, Chandigarh, Chennai, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Lucknow, Mumbai, New Delhi, Patna and Ranchi. The survey for the 2009 report too by passed Ahmedabad, even as it listed cities like Jaipur, Hyderabad and Bangalore. When officials in Gandhinagar came to know of it, they fought for its inclusion and have finally succeeded. World Bank officials will be coming to Gujarat next month to make an initial survey, talking to businesses based in Ahmedabad. The state government has quickly moved in to do some window-dressing. A state-level committee has been put in place under the chairmanship of chief secretary Manjula Subramaniam, with state industries commissioner Sujit Gulati as member-secretary, to improve procedures to meet the 10 parameters. (see box) A notification issued on Friday also instructed all state departments and agencies to identify critical areas of public interface and device a roadmap to reduce time and cost. The departments are expected to study best practices within the country and abroad, and suggest improvement mainly through e-governance. The objective is to introduce greater accountability within the system to eliminate red-tape and bring about greater efficiency.