Thiruvananthapuram: Industries minister A C Moideen has always been in a hurry to address the issue. And now, NITI Aayog’s findings will perhaps add to his urgency. An ‘enterprise survey’ conducted by NITI Aayog has revealed that Kerala one of the worst performing states in terms of ‘ease of doing business’.
The state fares poorly in a spate of parameters like time taken for approvals, clearances and sorting out legal hassles. In all of these parameters, the state fares way below the national average. The NITI Aayog study, 'Ease of Doing Business: An Enterprise Survey', notes that the average time taken to set up a business in India is 118 days. If it took, on average, 63 days to set up a business in Tamil Nadu and 67 days in Andhra Pradesh, in Kerala it would take 214 days. Only Assam fares worse (248 days).
For a state that depends on real estate to drive consumption, the average number of days for getting all construction-related approvals should be considered alarming. The national average is 112 days. But in Kerala, it would taken 134 days. Karnataka is worse (140 days). The shortest time taken is in Himachal Pradesh (8 days).
The time taken to secure environment-related approvals and renewals ranges, respectively, from zero to a little over 100 days and zero to 90 days in the country.
