Andhra Pradesh and Telangana surpassed Gujarat to jointly rank first on the Ease of Doing Business Reforms Ranking 2015-16 put out by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion and the World Bank. Union Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman [pictured above] released the second edition of the government's ranking of various states on Monday.

Both the states were given a score of 98.78%, while Gujarat slipped to the third position with a score of 98.21%. Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and Maharashtra all feature in the top 10 and were classified as "leaders". Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Bihar were identified as "aspiring leaders", while Himachal, Tamil Nadu and Delhi were categorised as states where acceleration is required, reported The Times of India.

The rankings were declared after studying how much of the department's 340-point Business Reform Action Plan the states have implemented between July 2015 and June 2016. Thirty-two states and Union territories reportedly submitted evidence for implementing 7,124 reforms. After a review by the World Bank and validation by the department, as many as 6,069 reforms were approved as implemented, reported Livemint.

Department officials said that states have woken up to the need of making it easier to do business. “The national implementation average stands at 48.93%, significantly higher than last year’s national average of 32%,” the department said in a statement.