Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 28 October 2015

:: National ::

India Moves Up in World Bank's Ease of Doing Business List

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's aspiration to turn the country into a top investment destination has got off to a positive start, with India now ranked by the World Bank at 130 of 189 countries on "Ease of Doing Business." That is up 12 places from its original ranking last year and four places from its rank on a revised list.

1) India was ranked 142 by the World Bank in 2015 on ease of doing business and later its rank was revised to 134 based on a new methodology.

2) PM Modi has said that he wants India to be among the top 50 countries on the list compiled each year by the World Bank in its report on doing business.

3) China is now ranked 84, moving up six spots. Singapore, New Zealand and Denmark occupied the first three spots in the list while South Sudan, Libya and Eritrea were ranked at the bottom three.

4) Terming the improvement in India's ranking a "remarkable achievement", World Bank Chief Economist Kaushik Basu said, "Going from 142 in the world to 130, as India has done, is very good sign. It gives a good signal about the way things are moving in India."

5) The rankings are based on 10 indicators such as how easy it is to start a business and sometimes form the basis of foreign investments in a country.

According to the new report, it takes 29 days to start a business in India now; it took 127 days in 2004.

6) In May 2015, the government eliminated the minimum capital requirement to start a business and also ended the requirement to obtain a certificate to commence business operations, which helped it improve its rankings, the World Bank said.

7) The biggest improvement was seen in the area of providing power to businesses, where India's ranking improved from 99 in 2015 to 70 in 2016, the World Bank said. "Now companies can get connected to the grid, and get on with their business, 14 days sooner than before," the report said.

8) The World Bank noted that India recorded the biggest increase in the distance to frontier (a measure of a country's absolute performance) score in South Asia since 2004. "More reforms are ongoing - in starting a business and other areas measured by Doing Business - though the full effects have yet to be felt," it said.

9) India is ranked 8th in terms of protecting minority investors, 42nd in getting credit, 70th in getting electricity, but scores poorly in dealing with construction permit with a rank of 183 out of 189 countries. Enforcing contract (rank 178), paying taxes (rank 157), resolving insolvency (rank 136) are other areas where India ranks poorly.

10) The World Bank signaled that India's ranking could improve further as a number of initiatives taken by the government have not been factored in the current years' report. "Several other initiatives to simplify the start-up process were still ongoing on June 1, 2015, the cutoff date for this year's data collection. These include developing a single application form for new firms and introducing online registration for tax identification numbers," the report said

China, ROK and Japan set date for key summit (Register and Login to read Full News..)

:: Business ::

India beats China to regain biggest gold consumer tag

India regained its top position from China as the biggest overall consumer of gold in the first nine months this year with a total consumption of 642 tonnes, a survey said.
China is trailing by just 63 tonnes at total consumption of 579 tonnes in the first nine months, according to GFMS Gold Survey Q3 2015 Review and Outlook.
In India, jewellery consumption increased by 5% year-on-year to an estimated 193 tonnes in Q3 2015, the highest quarterly consumption since Q1 2011 and the highest third quarter demand since 2008, the report published by Thomson Reuters stated.
Retail investment rose 30% year-on-year to 55 tonnes, the highest since Q4 2013. The increase in demand in the third quarter is primarily attributed to the fall in local gold prices to the lowest since August 2011.
The total official gold imports to India in the third quarter increased by 23% to 263%, which is the highest quarterly volume year-to date.
In China, after a lack lustre second quarter this year, which was the lowest second quarter recorded since 2011, gold demand rebounded in the third quarter.
Total gold demand amounted to 196 tonnes for the period, a modest 3% year on-year improvement.
The improvement in gold demand during the third quarter was driven by factors like the yellow metal regaining its attractiveness as an alternative investment vehicle as investors turned cautious of the equity markets.
Demand for the precious metal, both in the form of jewellery and investment bars, picked up immediately after gold price breached $1,100 in mid-July, also helped by rise in seasonal demand, lead by Chinese Valentine's Day in August and the Autumn festival in September.
The official depreciation of the yuan, which was announced on August 11, also boosted gold demand.

:: Sports ::

England’s Joe Root leapfrogs Steve Smith at top of ICC batting rankings

Root’s 159 runs in his two innings in Dubai were not enough to stop England going 1-0 down with one to play after the second Test against Pakistan.
But the prolific No4, who with 1,278 has made more Test runs than anyone this year, is back at the top of the table – by just three ranking points from Smith.
The Yorkshireman’s seesaw battle with the new Australia captain for the ICC’s No1 spot has lasted throughout 2015.
It will be Root too who has the next opportunity to further enhance his standing when England face Pakistan again in Sharjah in the final Test on Sunday. The all-time Pakistan Test leading run-scorer, Younus Khan, is also back up in the table, to fifth, after his hundred and half-century in Dubai.
The Pakistan leg-spinner Yasir Shah took eight wickets in the second Test, a driving force in the hosts’ 178-run win and also a performance which has taken him above the England seamers James Anderson and Stuart Broad into second place in the bowlers’ rankings behind only South Africa’s Dale Steyn.