The Centre is looking to carry out more judicial reforms to improve the ease of doing business in India, Anurag Singh Thakur, the minister of state for finance, said in Calcutta on Thursday.

At a joint forum of the chambers of commerce and two bodies of professional association in the run-up to the Union budget, Thakur said: “The country has done so well in ease of doing business ranking that has gone up from 142 to 63. But as far as the the arbitration and judicial system is concerned, our ranking is very poor. It is an area of concern.”

The World Bank comes out with a ranking for countries on doing business on 11 parameters. While India has done well in bankruptcy, it has done poorly in “enforcing contracts”.

Thakur, however, said the government would beef up the bankruptcy process with more benches at NCLT and branches of NCLAT in several states, including Calcutta.

The minister also held out hope for Bengal’s beleaguered real estate sector which is worried about not benefitting from a central scheme for completing unfinished projects because of a legal quagmire.

“I will look into this. Real estate projects stuck in the region should be completed in coming days,” he said.

He also sought suggestion from chambers on the sections of Companies Act, 2013 where offences should be changed from criminal to civil.

“UPA government was on the verge of going out. Hurriedly they brought the legislation and many provisions are criminal in nature. There should be change from criminal offence to civil offence. Send your suggestion within 7 days,” Thakur said.