Then there are the country’s overloaded courts — against a sanction of 15,228 judges in all courts of India, the working strength, at 12,390, stands short by a fifth, noted K.G. Balakrishnan, chief justice of India last month. Much of the blame for this would go to the executive. As Balakrishnan observed, “Judiciary has no power to increase the strength of courts or appoint additional judges without government sanction and budgetary support.” The Supreme Court had noted in 2002 that the number of judges should have seen a five-fold increase.

What the report, therefore, has done is that it has not merely ranked countries, but through such ranking, has taken a look at the real economy and its real problems that entrepreneurs in general and global entrepreneurs in particular face. Take taxes, another indicator where India, at 165, ranks poorly. According to the report, businesses have to pay over 70.6 per cent of their profits as taxes — the criteria include total number of tax payments per year; the time it takes to prepare, file and pay (or withhold) income tax; value added tax and social security contributions; the amount of taxes on profits paid by the business as a percentage of commercial profits; the amount of taxes and mandatory contributions on labour paid by the business as a percentage of commercial profits.

The surprises are many too. In terms of procedural requirements for trade — documents relating to importing and exporting goods; time to comply with procedures; and costs associated with them — India has climbed 63 steps, from 142 to 79. That places it 76 ranks higher than Russia and 14 ranks above Brazil, but still 37 ranks behind China.

... contd.