New Delhi, July 11 (KNN) For the second year in a row, Andhra Pradesh has topped the list of states in ease of doing business, according to a report prepared by the World Bank and the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP).

Its neighboring state Telangana secured second position with a score of 98.33%, followed by Haryana and Jharkhand.

Gujarat secured 5^th position in the state ranking list on ease of doing business, with a score of 97.96 percent.

The top 5 states have been titled the top achievers for the year 2018 while the achievers list of the ranking includes states Chhattisgarh (6^th position), Madhya Pradesh (7^th position), Karnataka (8^th position) and Rajasthan (9^th position).

The ranking was based on the parameters like areas such as construction permit, labour regulation, and environmental registration, access to information, land availability and single window system.

The ranking of metro cities of India on ease of doing business to capture investment according to the report where Delhi has secured 23^rd position, while Karnataka secured 8^th position with score of 96.40% while other 2 cities West Bengal and Maharashtra being in the list of achievers secured 10^th and 13^th position respectively.

The least performing states on the ease of doing business index include Arunachal Pradesh, Lakshadweep and Meghalaya.

Ramesh Abhishek, secretary for Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion at the Business Reform Assessment 2018 while announcing the rankings said that the difference between the first- and the second-ranked state is 0.09.

Complementing each state for cooperating and supporting in this process, he said that we have categorized the states as top achievers (score more than 95), achievers (90-95), fast movers (80-90) and aspirers (below 80) on the basis of percentage.

The DIPP in collaboration with the World Bank conducts an annual reform exercise for all states and union territories under the BARP to improve the delivery of various government regulatory functions and services in an efficient, effective and transparent manner. (KNN/YV)