India has topped a list of the most “over-regulated countries in the world” in a survey on Asian business and politics by Hong Kong-based Political and Economic Risk Consultancy Ltd (PERC).
The survey used responses from American executives about regulatory conditions in the United States, to provide a benchmark against which to assess the Asian scores. India was rated the worst in terms of over-regulation, scoring 9.16 points out of 10, followed by China with 9.04 points, Japan in third position with 3.28 points and the US at fourth with 1.51 points. Hong Kong received the best score in the survey with 0.98 points, while Singapore was second with 1.08 points, according to the survey done in the last quarter of 2010 and based on responses from 1,370 executives.
In general, regulations were complex and non-transparent, while standards and certifications procedures were onerous in India, according to survey findings. Foreign exchange, capital transactions and some credit operations were subject to approvals, restrictions and additional requirements that went far beyond what most other countries require.
Even procedures for something as simple as getting a tourist visa were more cumbersome in India than was typical elsewhere, it pointed out. It also cited specific examples from the World Bank’s Doing Business Survey of why India’s regulatory system deserves to be graded as poorly as it was.
