New Delhi, Jun 8 (KNN)  The World Bank last month had given India the tag of being the second most difficult country in terms of enforcing business contacts; the country figuring among the lowest five when it came to dealing with construction permits.
 
India had ranked 184 in the parameter of enforcing business contracts and 182 in terms of dealing with construction permits, according to the World Bank ranking of doing business in 185 countries. Ironically, the country was placed at 132, well behind Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Honduras, Nepal and Pakistan for ease of doing business.
 
The forthcoming workshop titled - Facilitating Small Businesses is therefore timely.  It is a one day workshop being organised by the Ministry of Finance in association with the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) on June-10.
 
The event will bring together state level key functionaries dealing with the industry and small business sectors as well as different entrepreneurs who run small units in various sectors across the country.
 
According to an official notification, states would have an opportunity to share their success stories and the challenges faced by them in the past in facilitating the ease of doing business in their respective states.
 
It would also provide a platform to small business owners from different sectors to express what works for them and talk about the challenges and regulatory hurdles they face in their day to day operations.  
 
The findings from the workshop which will be based on the deliberations and experiences of participants at the workshop will be used by the Ministry of Finance to develop an agenda to tackle the main obstacles that are identified.
 
Further, related groups of stakeholders would continue to deliberate on the issues and arrive at solutions.
 
Significantly, poor governance featured prominently in the World Bank ranking which was based on broad parameters such as starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and resolving insolvency.  

Participants at the workshop would include among others Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance Arvind Mayaram, Secretary, Department of Micro, Medium and Small Enterprises (MSME), Madhav Lal, Chief Economic Adviser (CEA), Ministry of Finance, Raghuram Rajan, Finance and Private Sector Director for South Asia, World Bank Sujata Nitin Lamba.  (KNN)