This is the third report in the series of South Asia regional reports based on the methodology of the annual global Doing Business report.

The South Asia report covers 8 countries. The top ranked countries in the region are the Maldives (53) and Pakistan (74), followed by Bangladesh (88), Sri Lanka (89), Nepal (100), India (134), Bhutan (138), and Afghanistan (162). As a region, South Asia performs comparatively well in business start-up and protecting investors. It lags far behind, however, on the ease of employing workers, enforcing contracts, and trading across borders.

In-depth examination of indicators in key cities provides helpful details that can be seen in the tables below. Hyderabad has the most business-friendly regulations in India, Karachi in Pakistan, and Dhaka ranks best in Bangladesh.

Points of interest:

In 2005-2006, the pace of reform was slower in South Asia than in any other region, with only India and Pakistan starting to improve their business environment.

The report finds that entrepreneurs in South Asia face large regulatory obstacles to doing business. For example, it takes 18 months of salary, on average in the region, to dismiss a redundant worker. More than a year (425 days) is needed to register property in Bangladesh. Taxes are high: a standard company in India pays 81% of commercial profits in taxes and in Pakistan, it takes 560 hours per year to comply with all tax regulations.

The report finds that complex and costly business regulations push workers into the underground economy. In India, over 8 million workers have formal jobs in the private sector—in a country of over 1 billion people and a work force of 458 million. Sri Lanka has over 4 million workers in formal jobs in the private sector—out of a work force of about 7 million. In Northern European countries, where it is easy to do business and people benefit from social protection, less than 8% of all economic activity occurs in the underground economy.

Bangladesh	Details available for:
Starting a business	Bogra, Chittagong, Dhaka, Khulna
Registering property	Bogra, Chittagong, Dhaka, Khulna
Dealing with licenses	Bogra, Chittagong, Dhaka, Khulna
Paying taxes	Bogra, Chittagong, Dhaka, Khulna

India	Details available for:
Starting a business	Bangalore, Bhubaneshwar, Calcutta, Chandigarh, Chennai, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Lucknow, Mumbai, New Delhi, Patna, Ranchi
Registering property	Bangalore, Bhubaneshwar, Calcutta, Chandigarh, Chennai, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Lucknow, Mumbai, New Delhi, Patna, Ranchi
Dealing with licenses	Bangalore, Bhubaneshwar, Calcutta, Chandigarh, Chennai, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Lucknow, Mumbai, New Delhi, Patna, Ranchi
Paying taxes	Bangalore, Bhubaneshwar, Calcutta, Chandigarh, Chennai, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Lucknow, Mumbai, New Delhi, Patna, Ranchi

Pakistan	Details available for:
Starting a business	Faisalabad, Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, Quetta, Sialkot
Registering property	Faisalabad, Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, Quetta, Sialkot
Dealing with licenses	Faisalabad, Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, Quetta, Sialkot
Paying taxes	Faisalabad, Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, Quetta, Sialkot

See data for other indicators in the report's Appendices.