India may have ambitions to become a global economic power but when it comes to ease of doing business, it is far below its rag-tag neighbours — Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal, says a report released by the World Bank on Wednesday. India slipped a couple of notches from last year’s position of 120 to reach 122 out of a total of 181 countries ranked on different parameters that determine the ease of doing business. China, often perceived as India’s biggest rival, came in at a distant 90, though still better than India’s 122. Region-wise, the OECD group of countries or the countries with the highest income levels emerged as the most business-friendly.

India will give you a start

India remains one of the worst places in the world to start a new business. While it takes only a day to start a new business in New Zealand, it takes 30 days to do the same in India

Belaboured business

Stringent laws make it expensive for an entrepreneur in India to fire an employee. Here he has to pay an employee 56 week’s salary on firing him. In New Zealand, this figure is zero

A close call

Closing a business, too, is not an easy deal in India. It’s definitely not a quick one. It takes 0.4 years to go through insolvency in Ireland; in India, it takes an average of 10 years