<div>If you failed to find a concrete logic behind the signature decision of Narendra Modi government to integrate ministries by entwining the roles of ministers and giving them multiple portfolios such as finance and commerce, Economic Survey 2013-14 might offer you an answer.<br /><br />The Economic Survey, which was, for all practical purposes ready by the time the previous government presented its interim-budget in February 2014, has seen minor tweaks to reflect, and wherever possible endorse some of the initial decisions taken by the Modi government.<br /><br />For instance, the section that talks about the major issues plaguing India’s merchandise trade sector, attempts to highlight the government’s ministry integration policy as a move in the right direction to reduce delays and high costs of merchandise trade. The survey quotes the World Bank and International Finance Corporation (IFC) publication Doing Business 2014 to point out that the delays and high costs on account of procedural and documentation factors, besides infrastructure bottlenecks are hurting the interests of trade facilitation.<br /><br />“India ranks 134 in ease of doing business with Singapore at first place and China at 96. In trading across borders India ranks 132, Singapore 1, and China 74. India needs 9 export documents compared to 3 in Singapore and 8 in China. Time to export is 16 days in India and 6 in Singapore”, the survey points out.<br /><br />It also quotes the Doing Business 2014 to highlight that while the number of import documents needed is 20 for India, it is just 4 for Singapore. It says that the cost of exports per container is US$ 1170 in India, US$ 460 in Singapore, and US$ 620 in China and cost of imports per container is US$ 1250 in India, US$ 440 in Singapore, and US$ 615 in China.<br /><br />“There are also inter-ministerial delays. The present move towards integration of related ministries is a step in the right direction, though a lot more needs to be done”, the document says adding that the solution lies in the simultaneous notification or implementation of enabling policy announcements.</div>
