The fact-finding report of Ernst and Young (E&Y) released by chief minister Arjun Munda here on Thursday identifies Ranchi as one of the poor-ranking cities in terms of ease' of doing business.

The report released on the occasion of "Summit on rising Jharkhand, land of opportunities" organized by Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industries in India (ASSOCHAM) underlines the bottlenecks that most of the investors face while planning to set up business here.

Ernst and Young executive director Ronjoy Rajkhowa, while describing the report, said despite registering a robust annual growth of 12.4 % Jharkhand was not an investor-friendly destination because of poor governance and weak institutions.

Quoting the findings of Investment Climate Survey (ICS) conducted by World Bank in 2007, he said lack of adequate and affordable infrastructure, particularly electricity and transport followed by high tax rates and regulations and coupled with rampant corruption and access to finance are major bottlenecks.

Speaking about Ranchi as investor's destination, he said despite policies being introduced Bihar and Jharkhand together got only $0.4 million (Rs 2 crore) as foreign direct investment from April to August 2010.

Asking Jharkhand to follow Bihar benchmark in terms of cost of business, Rajkhowa said while an investor required 38.5% of income per capita as cost of business establishment in Patna, the cost was as high as 51.5% in Ranchi.

"In terms of total number of days required to register a firm in Mumbai, an investor requires 30 days whereas this becomes 38 days in case of Ranchi," he pointed out.

Urging investors to invest in the state, Munda said political instability in the state is one of the main reasons for the bottlenecks. He said apart from the state's mineral-based identity, he would always like to see growth in manufacturing industry.

"We have to develop skills so that the human resource available with the state can be converted into asset," he said.