Thiruvananthapuram, July 5 (KNN) Kerala has stood 15th in the Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) index with a score of 75.49% as per the SBRAP-2020 recently released by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).

It is an improvement for the State from its previous 28th position in 2019.

The EoDB index is a World Bank initiative of ranking States and Union Territories based on the business environment.

The two factors which decide the ranking are the implementation score and feedback score obtained from the beneficiaries.

Commenting on the ranking of the state, P. Rajeeve, Minister of Industries, Coir, and Law credited the initiatives taken by State government to encourage business environment with an integrated development strategy encompassing policy reforms and business re-engineering processes.

“The holistic approach focussing on investment with sustainable development has helped the State make rapid gains as a preferred investment destination,” he said. Going forward, the ranking would further improve with the number of initiatives currently being under implementation, he added.

The State Business Reform Action Plan (SBRAP)-2020 comprised 301 action points spread across 18 departments/agencies covering 15 reform areas with an addition of several sector-specific reforms.

This improvement in the ranking will act an inspiration for the industrial and investment promotion agencies to increase their efforts in attracting more investments and enterprises to the State, said Suman Billa, Principal Secretary, Industries.  (KNN Bureau)