India 'challenging place' to do business, must ease hurdles: US State Dept

India remains a challenging place" to do business, the US has said, urging it to foster an attractive and reliable investment climate by reducing barriers to investment and minimising the bureaucratic hurdles.

The State Department, in a report '2021 Investment Climate Statements: India' released on Wednesday, said that India remains a challenging place to do business and also referred to the removal of the special constitutional status from the state of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) and the passage of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

New protectionist measures, including increased tariffs, procurement rules that limit competitive choices, sanitary and phytosanitary measures not based on science, and Indian-specific standards not aligned with international standards, effectively closed off producers from global supply chains and restricted the expansion in bilateral trade, the report said.

In its report, the State Department said that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) ...