UPPSC 2020 Prelims GS Paper-I · Question 133 of 150

Marked answer per the official UPPSC 2020 key — (b) 2 only. Read this one with an honesty caveat, because BOTH statements are in fact factually correct. Statement 2 is true: in the World Bank's Doing Business 2019 report India ranked 77 (out of 190 economies). Statement 1 is ALSO true: in Doing Business 2020 India ranked 63 — India climbed 14 places, from 77 to 63. On the documented figures the honest reading is therefore (c) Both 1 and 2. The commission most likely intended the trap to sit on Statement 1's wording/date, but the number itself (63 in DB-2020) is correct. We retain (b) here only because it is the mark on the official key; the fact worth learning is that India was ranked 77 in DB-2019 and 63 in DB-2020 — both figures are right.

• (a)1 only — Not the marked answer — and factually understated: Statement 2 (India 77 in DB-2019) is also correct, so limiting it to '1 only' is wrong.
• (c)Both 1 and 2 — Factually this is the defensible reading (India was 63 in DB-2020 and 77 in DB-2019, so both statements are correct), but the official UPPSC key marks (b) 2 only. We follow the key while flagging this as a key-vs-facts discrepancy.
• (d)Neither 1 nor 2 — Wrong — at least Statement 2 (and in fact Statement 1 too) is correct, so 'neither' cannot hold; India's DB-2019 rank of 77 is well documented.

The World Bank's Ease of Doing Business (Doing Business) report ranked 190 economies each year on the regulatory environment for business, using ten sub-indices (starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, resolving insolvency). India improved sharply in the late 2010s, from rank 142 in DB-2015 to 77 in DB-2019 and 63 in DB-2020. (The World Bank discontinued the Doing Business report in 2021 after data-integrity concerns.)

This is a factual recall of two specific ranks. The honest difficulty is that both statements check out — India 63 in DB-2020 and 77 in DB-2019 — so the defensible answer is (c) Both; yet the official key marks (b) 2 only. For the exam record the marked answer is (b), but the reliable facts to remember are the two ranks themselves (77 then 63), and India's ~79-place jump from DB-2015 (142) to DB-2020 (63).

• Doing Business 2020: India ranked 63 out of 190 economies (Statement 1 — factually correct)
• Doing Business 2019: India ranked 77 out of 190 (Statement 2 — correct, and the key's basis)
• India rose from 142 (DB-2015) to 100 (DB-2018) to 77 (DB-2019) to 63 (DB-2020)
• The Doing Business report was published by the World Bank and was discontinued in 2021

• Assuming one rank must be wrong when both figures (77 and 63) are actually correct
• Attributing the Ease of Doing Business ranking to the WEF or IMF instead of the World Bank

UPPSC/UPSC ask this as which-body-publishes-it, a specific-rank recall, or a 'which is not a sub-index' item — anchor to the World Bank and the ten sub-indices.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The 'Ease of Doing Business Index' is published by which organisation?

  • (a)World Economic Forum
  • (b)World Bank
  • (c)International Monetary Fund
  • (d)OECD

  Answer(b) World Bank — through its (now discontinued) Doing Business report.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  In the World Bank's Doing Business 2020 report, India's rank among 190 economies was

  • (a)142
  • (b)100
  • (c)77
  • (d)63

  Answer(d) 63 — up from 77 the previous year.