China vs. India: Which is better for doing business? - PSD Blog - The World Bank Group

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Editor's Note: Peter Kusek is an Investment Policy Officer with the Investment Climate Advisory Services of the World Bank Group.

Doing Business has just published its seventh annual report for 2010. As in the past, it includes its flagship Ease of Doing Business rank, which is once again led by high-income economies such as Singapore, New Zealand, Hong Kong (China) and the United States. That’s not a surprise.

What some of us might however not expect is to find countries such as Georgia, Saudi Arabia or Mauritius among the top 20. Does this mean that these countries are amongst the world’s 20 most desirable and attractive business destinations? Well, yes and no, depending on how you define attractiveness. Let’s do the following quick business exercise together:

I am an investor looking to expand my enterprise and venture beyond the borders of my country. All my buddies are telling me that China and India are the places to go, but before I follow their advice I decide to snoop around the Internet and see what other folks are saying. As I expect, information abounds so I decide to restrict my search and only check out various lists of countries which rank the world markets based on their business attractiveness. Still, there are too many so I zero in on the following six lists which seem to come up most often in my search:

Global Competitiveness Index from the World Economic Forum

Ease of Doing Business Index from the Doing Business project at the World Bank Group

Index of Economic Freedom from the Heritage Foundation

Business Environment Rankings of the Economist ...

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