Reforming the regulatory environment for doing business in India

I’m making note of this positive development. 

The corporate affairs minister on Friday set up a committee under the former Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) chairman M Damodaran for ‘Reforming the regulatory environment for doing business in India’.

The other members of the committee include chairman of ITC Group YC Deveshwar, KV Kamath chairman Infosys, Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman Aditya Birla group, and Anand Mahindra, chairman Mahindra Group.

The committee has to submit its report within six months of holding its first meeting.

The World Bank and International Finance Corporation 2012 report on the ease of doing business ranks India a lowly 132 out of 183 countries, well below the other BRICS and most of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation countries.

Apart from corporate leaders, the committee includes sectoral experts from banks and research institutes and representatives from ministries such as finance, commerce and industry, power, petroleum and also the Reserve Bank of India.

The committee will gauge and suggest ways to improve the compliance climate in India and also suggest measures to incorporate good corporate governance practices to bring in credibility in conducting businesses.

Does Indian business have the GUTS to speak the truth? The terms of reference appear rather weak. But can this committee prepare a report of a standard that not just India but the whole world could look up to it?

I’ve worked in regulatory reform for a  number of years and am aware of the latest thinking in this area. I’ll closely examine the output of this Committee for quality of analysis and recommendations.