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'Make in India': Government urges states to establish industrial land bank by June for the drive
NEW DELHI: The Centre has asked states to develop a land bank by June end to ensure ready land availability for the industry, as it looks to accelerate the 'Make in India' drive. This is one of the 98 points on which states will be ranked to create a sense of competition among them. States have also been asked to develop a framework to earmark land parcels with industry type that can be set up on such land.
The other parameters relate to registering of property, starting a business, construction permits, environment compliances, etc, with timelines spread to December 31.
What the central government can do to boost domestic manufacturing was announced in the budget, but the real action lies in the states. We are closely working with states and have asked them to immediately begin action on these parameters,based on which they will be ranked," said a top DIPP official.
The move is seen in conjunction with the Union Budget announced late last week that had measures to promote local manufacturing in the country, including correction of anomaly in the duty structure and improving credit access for small and medium enterprises.
The manufacturing sector is estimated to expand by 6.8% in 2014-15. India slipped two spots to 142 in the World Bank's ease of doing business ranking in 2015 out of 189 countries. The government is aiming to break into the top 50s in the next few years. DIPP in its communications to the states has recommended a by May 31, to allow for registration, application, tracking and monitoring of application, which will encourage young professionals to turn entrepreneurs.
Land and business are state subjects. India needs more job creators than job seekers, for which we need to make it simpler to do business," said the official. Similarly, it has recommended allowing online payment of all state levies and taxes. Besides, it has suggested single registration and ID for all state taxes.
It also suggested simplifying VAT refund by making payment directly into a firm's account within 60 days. For environment clearances and compliance, which are among the top hurdles faced by businesses in the country, DIPP has suggested that industry may be categorised into 'green', 'amber' and 'red' to define inspection requirements for registration or clearances.
Green will require no inspection,amber will require self-certification, while red will require compulsory and time-bound verification. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had called a Make in India national workshop with states in December to discuss ways to make doing business easier in the country.
DIPP has also recommended allowing advance ruling for tax for state-level taxes on the lines of the Income Tax Act by June 30. States must fix timelines for disposing of the commercial cases and mandate mediation for commercial cases less than Rs 10 lakh.
The Centre launched the singlewindow portal called 'e-biz' last month, integrating 11 central services for faster clearance for businesses. DIPP has also identified 10 states, whose services will also be integrated on the ebiz portal. These include Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.