Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju on Tuesday, June 9, 2026, invoked India's climb of 79 places in the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business rankings as evidence of what he called twelve years of decisive governance, attributing the gain to sustained structural reforms under the current administration.

Context

Posting under the hashtag #12YearsOfSeva (twelve years of service), Rijiju framed the ranking improvement as 'a testament to the power of reforms' and 'a reflection of 12 years of decisive governance, reform and commitment to empowering enterprise.' The post is part of a broader ruling-party communication drive marking over a decade of BJP-led governance at the Centre.

India's ascent in the World Bank Ease of Doing Business index — from 142nd position in 2014 to 63rd in 2019 — was among the most cited governance metrics of that period, representing a jump of 79 places across five consecutive annual reports. The World Bank discontinued the index in 2021 following a data-integrity review, meaning no comparable official ranking has been published since.

Policy Backdrop

The ranking gains were underpinned by a series of landmark legislative and administrative overhauls. The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), enacted in 2016, overhauled the resolution of corporate distress and strengthened creditor rights, directly improving India's scores on sub-indicators such as 'resolving insolvency.' The nationwide rollout of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in July 2017 replaced a fragmented multi-levy structure with a unified indirect tax regime, simplifying compliance for businesses across state borders.

The Make in India campaign, launched in September 2014, anchored the broader deregulation push by targeting foreign direct investment and streamlining industrial approvals. Together, these three pillars — insolvency reform, tax unification, and investment promotion — were the primary drivers that the World Bank itself acknowledged in successive annual assessments of India's improving regulatory environment.

Stakeholders and Impact

The beneficiaries of an improved business environment span entrepreneurs, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), and foreign investors. Rising EoDB scores were closely correlated with an uptick in FDI inflows during the same period, as global capital increasingly treated India's regulatory trajectory as a signal of reduced transaction costs and stronger contract enforcement.

For MSMEs — which account for a substantial share of employment and output in the Indian economy — reforms such as faster business registration, online compliance portals, and single-window clearances translated into tangible reductions in time and cost of doing business at the ground level.

What's Next

With the World Bank index discontinued since 2021, the government and multilateral bodies have been exploring successor frameworks to benchmark the regulatory climate. Any revival or replacement index from a credible multilateral body would test whether the reform momentum of the 2014–2019 window has been sustained or accelerated in subsequent years.

Pending implementation of the four consolidated Labour Codes — passed by Parliament but not yet fully notified — remains a key legislative frontier. Their operationalisation would represent the next significant chapter in India's ease-of-doing-business story and could form the basis of future ranking assessments under any new global index.