Bengaluru: Expressing reservations over Karnataka slipping to the 13th spot from 9th in the Ease of doing business report this year, the State government on Wednesday demanded that the parameters be made more broad-based for a fairer evaluation.

Karnataka Industries Minister R V Deshpande said he would write to Union Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in this regard.

“Karnataka basically has an ecosystem, rich human resources, responsible and industry-friendly government. Last time when the rating was announced, I had written to Nirmala Sitharaman, bringing to her notice about the parameters,” he told reporters here.

Saying that although he was not complaining, but there was a need to add to the existing parameters which was why he had suggested that business friendly ecosystem developed by the state, facilitation mechanism, industry infrastructure, quality manpower, labour situation and investments approved be taken into consideration. This had still not been considered and he was yet to get a response.

“Again I will be writing to Nirmala Sitaraman and we will also raise the issue at the meeting called by her on November 16 regarding ease of doing business,” he added.

Andhra Pradesh and Telangana jointly topped the charts while Gujarat slipped to third spot in the report prepared by the World Bank and the Indian governments department of industrial policy and promotion this year.

Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana occupied fourth, fifth and sixth slots in the index, based on the degree of implementation of the governments 340-point Business Reform Action Plan.

Stating that he was sure that Karnataka would improve its ranking by working in areas where it is lacking, Deshpande urged the Commerce Minister to look into the suggestions and that the parameters be more broad-based by giving importance to key areas like investments, manpower and infrastructure while evaluating the states performance.

He said that out of 340-point Business Reform Action Plan, Karnataka has complied to 301 points with 88.39 per cent implementation score.

“Out of the other 39 points, 20-25 we have complied, but for technical reasons they have not accepted our compliances,” he said, adding, “Overall, Im not happy. We are a State which deserves to be ranked on the top and ease of doing business is a continues process.”