Reforms get thumbs up from World Bank

Starting a business in India has become much easier in the last two years.

It now takes 35 days to register a firm in Mumbai, compared with 71 days a year ago and 89 days in January 2004, according to a report by the World Bank-International Finance Corporation.

The report, "Doing Business in South Asia 2007," states that reforms in India have reduced the time, cost and hassle for businesses to comply with legal and administrative requirements, placing the country as the top reformer in the sub-continent and among top 20 reformers worldwide.

Although reforms have improved India's ranking over the last one year, it still ranks low at 134, that is, 41 places behind China.

The top countries in the region are the Maldives (53) and Pakistan (74), followed by Bangladesh (88), Sri Lanka (89), Nepal (100), Bhutan (138) and Afghanistan (162).

On 12 major Indian cities, the report says Hyderabad has the most business-friendly rules.