SME Times News Bureau | 27 Jul, 2020
The Government is soon going to set up a single window system
for clearances and approvals of industry in the country, said Commerce and
Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Monday.
Talking to the sovereign wealth funds, the foreign pension
funds and others on ease of doing business and investments in infrastructure
sector in India, Goyal said that this would be a genuine single window and all
the concerned State Governments and Central Ministries are being taken on board
for the system.
The Minister also said that the Government is working on
creating a land bank, for which six States have already given their
consent.
He said that the
potential investors would then be able to locate and identify the land banks
from their distant offices and finalise the location of industries, without
frequently visiting the offices of land owning agencies.
On the issue of further easing and speeding up the process of
approvals for industry and investments, the Minister also referred to the
recent decisions of the Cabinet to set up an Empowered Group of Secretaries led
by the Cabinet Secretary to take decisions on various industries’ schemes and
projects.
He also said that a nodal officer has been appointed in every
Central Department and Project Development Cells are being set up which will
help in developmentof investible projects in coordination between the Central
Government and State Governments and thereby grow the pipeline of investible
projects in India and in turn increase FDI inflows.
The Minister said that the Government had initially
identified 12 industrial sectors to focus upon, and the same has been expanded
to 20.
This will help in scaling up investment, and leveraging the
competitive edge of the country, he said.
These sectors include furniture – standard as well as special
furniture, air-conditioners, leather, footwear, agro-chemicals, Ready to eat
food, Steel,Aluminium, Copper, Textiles, Electric Vehicles, Auto-components, TV
Set-Top Boxes, CCTVs, Sports goods, ethanol manufacture and bio-fuels, and
Toys.
He said that Aatmanirbhar Bharat does not mean India is closing the
doors for the world but widening its doors for opportunities and Investment
with the focus on quality of the Indian products, increasing economies of scale
for the production in India.
The country will deal the world from a position of
strength, become more competitive, and imbibes best technology and
equipment. The industry should assimilate artificial intelligence, data
analytics, robotic and all other best practices.He said using technology does
not imply loss of lobs in any way, as jump in production in the country will
lead to creation of more jobs, he said.
The Minister said that conducive environment will be created
for foreign investment in the health and education sectors also.
He said that investors will be given full support in terms of
policies, processes, regulations and everything will be transparent, open and
equitable. Replying to some other concerns of the potential investors, Goyal
said the Baba Kalyani Report on Special Economic Zone is under serious
consideration of the Ministry.
On the labour reform issues, Goyal said that a balance has to
be worked out between the interests of the labour and the investors.
Goyal.said that the Government rightly focused on life and
implemented one of the strictest lockdown in the world. This proved important
in the long run, in better managing the corona pandemic. Now the country
is focusing on lives along with the livelihoods and we are into the unlock
phase. The economic activity has already reached the respectable level as
can be seen in the several indicators.
He said that we are now looking forward to growth in the 3rd
and 4th quarters. The world has also recognized initiatives of the
Modi Government in doing exceedingly well during this crisis time. India
was able to create health infrastructure during the lockdown, as could be seen
in self-sufficiency in the indigenous production of large number of PPEs and
Ventilators, and such a large number of Covid tests being undertaken on daily
basis.
Goyal said that the risk-reward matrix is one of the most
favourable in India, as the country is a great destination, has a much upwardly
mobile population, with an aspiration for a better lifestyle.
He assured
all the support for facilitating the investment in India.He invited the foreign investors to take part in the
country’s growth story.
The
participants in the meeting gave various suggestion for the furthering the ease
of doing business in India, and Shri Goyal assured them that they will be
suitably examined at the earliest.