Maharashtra slips from 10 to 13 in EODB ranks: Opposition blames poor coordination between Shiv Sena, BJP

Mumbai: The Opposition on Wednesday alleged that poor coordination between the ruling BJP and Shiv Sena and corruption has led to Maharashtra’s slide in the ease of doing business rankings.

Maharashtra has slipped from 10th position to 13th in the country in the ease of doing business survey by the World Bank and Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP).

Targeting the Devendra Fadnavis-led government, state Congress chief Ashok Chavan asked in Marathi, “Kuthe neun Maharashtra majha (where they have taken my Maharashtra)?” Notably, the BJP had used the same tag-line to target the previous Prithviraj Chavan-led government ahead of the 2014 state Assembly polls.

The states which earlier lagged behind Maharashtra have moved ahead of it, Ashok Chavan pointed out. “Jharkhand (ranked fourth in the list) has surpassed Maharashtra, which was number one during our regimes…this is all because of poor coordination between the BJP and the Shiv Sena,” he told PTI over phone from Bhor in Pune district.

Maharashtra NCP spokesman Nawab Malik alleged that investors were afraid of doing business in the state due to the “rise in corruption.” He said the present ranking reflects the reality in Maharashtra after the World Bank had rated Mumbai, country’s financial capital, better on the ease of doing business scale last year.

Malik claimed the World Bank’s ranking was based on “wrong inputs” submitted to it. “The truth is coming out now…the government’s poor planning in terms of bringing investment in Mumbai has resulted in this situation… Thriving corruption under their watch has also made investors afraid of investing here,” he said.

According to the latest rankings published by the central government’s DIPP for fiscal 2016-17, Maharashtra slipped to the 13th position owing to slump in its score from the earlier 92.86 to 92.71.

The DIPP has ranked the sibling states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana as first and second, respectively, in its list.