Those Who Were In World Bank Earlier, Now Question Ranking, Says PM Narendra Modi

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NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today took a swipe at the opposition Congress over its attack on the government after the country improved its ranking in the World Bank's ease of doing business report, saying those who had worked with the World Bank previously too were raising questioning India's ranking.

"This is not just an ease of business ranking... it is also an ease of living life," PM Modi said at the Pravasi Bhartiya Kendra, responding to the primary criticism from the Congress camp that there was a wide gap between the improvement in rankings and the plight of small businesses.

Leading the opposition attack has been Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi who has accused the government's decision last year to ban high value currency notes followed by the Goods and Services Tax of having devastated businesses. "Ask small traders about ease of doing business," Rahul Gandhi has said, describing the two measures as "twin torpedos" that sunk entrepreneurs into losses.

PM Modi was speaking soon after World Bank chief Kristalina Georgieva, speaking at the same event, had called India's jump of 30 places in World Bank's ease of doing business ranking as "very rare".

"In reforms what pays off is persistence, what we are seeing is extraordinary achievement by India," Ms Georgieva said.