India 89; Pak 24, US 5

Starting a business in India [ Images ] takes nearly three months compared to just 5 days in the United States, 41 days in China and less than a month's time in Pakistan, according to World Bank's report 'Doing Business in 2005.'

The findings, which were presented in the Rajya Sabha by Minister of State for Commerce and Industry E V K S Elangovan through a written reply, said starting a business in India took nearly 89 days.

While India fared better than Brazil [ Images ], where opening a business was said to take as many as 152 days, the country was way behind Pakistan, where it takes only 24 days to set up a business.

In France [ Images ] it takes 8 days, Netherlands 11, Italy [ Images ] 13, England [ Images ] 18, Austria 29, and Belgium 34 days. With a procedure of 152 days, Spain is only the second country where it takes longer than India to open a new business.

Closing a business in India takes 10 days as against less than a day in Belgium and Japan [ Images ], one day each in Austria, England and Spain, 1.2 days each in Germany [ Images ] and Italy, 2.2 days in Sri Lanka [ Images ], 2.4 days in China and 3 days in the US.

As per the World Bank findings, it takes as much as 1,390 days to enforce a contract in Italy, while the same takes 425 days in India.

Enforcing a contract is fastest in Netherlands (48 days), followed by Japan (60 days). It takes 250 days to enforce a contract in US and 241 days in China. In Pakistan, it takes 395 days, England 288, France 75, and Brazil 566 days.