Measures
to Bring Industry and Manufacturing Centre-Stage for Economic Growth Marks 2014
In the wake of global economic slowdown persisting in 2013-14, India’s GDP
growth for 2013-14 had recorded just 4.7% with industry growth at 0.4% and
manufacturing growth recording a negative growth of -0.7%. During the year
several initiatives were taken to give the necessary thrust to industry,
whose share in the GDP was hovering around 15%.
1.Ease
of Doing Business.
Major Initiatives have been taken in
2014 for improving ‘Ease of Doing Business’ in India through simplification and
rationalization of the existing rules and introduction of information
technology to make governance more efficient and effective.
·
A
comparative study of practices followed by the States for grant of clearance
and ensuring compliances were circulated among all the states for peer
evaluation and adoption, and Chief Ministers were requested to partner with
DIPP in taking these initiatives forward to ease the business regulatory
environment in the country. Other suggestions include filing of returns on-line
through a unified form; placing a check-list of required compliances on
Department’s web portal; replacing all registers required to be maintained by
the business with a single electronic register; no inspection without the
approval of the Head of the Department; and introducing a system of
self-certification for all non-risk, non-hazardous businesses.
·
The
process of applying for Industrial License (IL) and Industrial Entrepreneur
Memorandum (IEM) has been made online and this service is now available to
entrepreneurs on 24x7 basis at the eBiz website. This had led to ease of
filing applications and online payment of service charges.
·
A
major breakthrough has been pruning the list of Defence industries which
require industrial licensing. Dual use items, having military as well as
civilian applications, unless classified as defence item, will also not require
Industrial License from defence angle. The requirement of affidavit from
applicants that they will comply with the safety & security
guidelines/procedures has been dispensed with.
·
After
this simplification, 61 pending applications for Defence Industries have
been disposed of, including granting of 43 licenses, and advising that 18
applications do not need license.
·
Initial
validity period of Industrial License has been increased to three years from
two years, also, two extensions of two years each in the initial validity of
three years of the Industrial License shall now be allowed up to seven years.
This will give enough time to licensees to procure land and obtain the
necessary clearances/approvals from authorities. Partial commencement of production
is now being treated as commencement of production of all the items included in
the license.
·
The
latest National Industrial Classification Code NIC 2008 has been adopted, which
will allow Indian businesses to be part of globally recognized and accepted
classification that facilitate smooth approvals/registration.
·
The
process of Registration with Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) has
been integrated with eBiz and launched for public on 12th December, 2014.
Integration of 8 more Central Services with e-Biz are at an advanced stage of
integration. Further, other than the Central Bank of India, e-Biz portal has
been integrated with 4 more banks, Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, Canara Bank
and Punjab National Bank.
·
A
checklist with specific time-lines has been developed for processing all
applications filed by foreign investors in cases relating to Retail/NRI/EoU
foreign investments and placed on the DIPP website.
2. Make in India
The ‘Make in India’programme has been
launched globally on 25th September 2014 with 25 thrust sectors and
a dedicated portal with back end support up to Sectoral and State levels for
facilitation. The initiative was simultaneously launched in the Capital of all
States and in several Indian Embassies/High Commissions. Few other Indian
Embassies have also organized “Make in India” interactions after the launch.
The ‘Make in India” initiative is based on four
pillars, which have been identified to give boost to entrepreneurship in India,
not only in manufacturing but also other sectors. The four pillars are:
(i) New Processes: ‘Make in India’ recognizes ‘ease of doing business’
as the single most important factor to promote entrepreneurship. A number of
initiatives have already been undertaken to ease business environment. The aim
is to de-license and de-regulate the industry during the entire life cycle of a
business.
(ii) New Infrastructure: Availability of modern and facilitating
infrastructure is a very important requirement for the growth of industry.
Government intends to develop industrial corridors and smart cities to provide
infrastructure based on state-of-the-art technology with modern high-speed
communication and integrated logistic arrangements. Existing infrastructure to
be strengthened through upgradation of infrastructure in industrial clusters.
Innovation and research activities are supported through fast paced registration
system and accordingly infrastructure of Intellectual Property Rights
registration set-up has been upgraded. The requirement of skills for industry
are to be identified and accordingly development of workforce to be taken up.
(iii) New Sectors: ‘Make in India’ has identified 25 sectors in
manufacturing, infrastructure and service activities and detailed information
is being shared through interactive web-portal and professionally developed
brochures. FDI has been opened up in Defence Production, Construction and
Railway infrastructure in a big way.
(iv) New Mindset: Industry is accustomed to see Government as a
regulator. ‘Make in India’ intends to change this by bringing a paradigm shift
in how Government interacts with industry. The Government will partner industry
in economic development of the country. The approach will be that of a
facilitator and not regulator.
An Investor Facilitation Cell has
been created in ‘Invest India’ to guide, assist and handhold investors during
the entire life-cycle of the business.This Cell will provide necessary
information on vast range of subjects; such as, policies of the Ministries and
State Governments, various incentive schemes and opportunities available, to
make it easy for the investors to make necessary investment decision.
Information on 25 sectors has been put up on ‘Make in India’s web portal
(http://www.makeinindia.com) along with details of FDI Policy, National
Manufacturing Policy, Intellectual Property Rights and Delhi Mumbai Industrial
Corridor and other National Industrial Corridors.
3. E-Biz Project
• The eBiz project is one of
the 31 Mission Mode Projects (MMPs) under the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP)
of Government of India.The project envisages setting up a G2B portal to serve
as a one-stop shop for delivery of services to the investors and addresses the
needs of business and industry from inception through the entire life cycle of
the business. During 2014, a momentum thrust has been given to integrate the
Central services in the e-biz platform in a time bound manner.
• The eBiz platform with 2
DIPP services along with integration with Central Bank of India payment gateway
and electronic Pay and Accounts Office solution were launched on 20.01.2014.
Further, the Employee State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) service was launched
on 12.12.2014. It is expected that 8 more Central Government Services , vizPAN
and TAN services of CBDT, DIN, Name Availability, Certificate of Incorporation
and Certificate of commencement of businessServices of Ministry of Corporate
Affairs, Exporter-Importer Code Service of DGFT and Employer Registration
Service of EPFO will be integrated shortly. The initial e-PAO solution is now
working with Central Bank of India, Canara bank, Bank of Baroda, Bank of India
and Punjab National Bank. E-PAO solution with State Bank of India and its
associate banks are currently under implementation.
4. Liberalisation in Foreign Direct
Investment (FDI)/ and facilitation of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)
·
During
2014, FDI in Defence Industry has been permitted through the Government
route up to 49%. Also, higher FDI can be allowed on case to case basis. Further,
portfolio nvestment which was not permitted earlier has now been allowed up to
24% under automatic route.
·
Other
important changes in the revised policy include doing away of the lock-in
period of three years, mandating that investee company should be structured to
be self-sufficient in areas of product design and development, with full Indian
management and control along with Chief Security Officer being resident Indian
citizen.
·
Further,
FDI in construction, operation and maintenance of identified railway
transport infrastructure up to 100% has been permitted through the
automatic route. In sensitive areas, from security point of view, FDI beyond
49% would be allowed on a case to case basis.
·
Recently,
the norms for FDI in Construction Development Projects (which already
permitted 100% FDI through automatic route) have been further liberalised.The
minimum land area restriction has been removed for serviced plots. In case of
construction-development projects, minimum built up area of 50,000 sq. meter
has now been reduced to floor area of 20,000 sq. meter. Minimum capitalization
has been reduced from US $ 10 million to US $ 5 million. Norms relating to
repatriation of funds or exit from the project have also been liberalized.
Investor can exit after the completion of the project or after development of
trunk infrastructure. Earlier provision to bring in entire FDI within six
months of the commencement of the project has been amended to provide that FDI
can be brought in till the period of 10 years from the commencement of the
project or its completion, whichever is earlier. To encourage investment in
affordable housing, it has been provided that minimum area and capitalization
norms will not apply to the projects committing 30 percent of the total project
cost for low cost affordable housing.
During 2014, approval has been given to the plan
scheme for Modernization & Strengthening of Intellectual Property Offices.
The scheme aims at reducing transaction costs, in improving transparency in the
functioning of the IP Offices and in augmenting human resources with a view to
enable examination of applications in a timely manner.
Further during 2014, the National
Institute of Design has been declared as the Institute of National Importance.
Four more NID are being set up in Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and
Haryana.
4. Japan Plus
DIPP has set up a special management team
to facilitate and fast track investment proposals from Japan. The team known as
“Japan Plus” has been operationalized w.e.f October 8, 2014.
5. Industrial Corridors
Delhi
Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC )
·
The first node/ city
level Special Purpose Vehicle ( SPV) under DMIC Project with the name and title
of “Aurangabad Industrial Township Ltd.” has been incorporated.
·
Integrated Industrial
Township Project at Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh; Integrated Industrial
Township Project in VikramUdyogpuri Near Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh; Activation
Area of Dholera Special Investment Region in Gujarat and Phase-I of
ShendraBidkin Industrial Park in Maharashtra are moving towards
implementation.
·
Request for Qualification
proposal for the empanelment of the EPC Contractors for roads and services for
Activation Area of Ahmedabad Dholera Special Investment Region in Gujarat has
been floated.
·
Final environmental
clearance has already been obtained from the Ministry of Environment, Forest
and Climate Change for three DMIC Nodes viz. ManesarBawal Investment Region in
Haryana, KhushkheraBhiwadiNeemrana Investment Region in Rajasthan and Ahmedabad
Dholera Investment Region in Gujarat.
·
Detailed Project Report
for Mass Rapid Transit System between Ahmedabad Dholera has been finalisedThe
preparation of Detailed Project Report for the Mass Rapid Transit project
between Gurgaon and Bawal is at an advanced stage of finalisation.
·
Significant progress
has been made in the Model Solar Power Project at Neemrana, Rajasthan which is
being implemented as an Indo Japan Partnership Project. The first batch of
Solar panels have arrived at the site, EPC contractor has been appointed and
the actual commissioning of the project has been initiated.
·
Considerable progress
has also been made in the Logistic Data Bank Project, which is one of the Smart
Community Projects being implemented in partnership with the Government of
Japan. Tariff Authority for Major Ports (TAMP) has notified the levy of
Mandatory User Charges (MUC) as part of their scale of rates. The project is
being taken forward for the implementation in partnership with NEC Corporation
of Japan.
Chennai
Bangalore Industrial Corridor (CBIC):
·
Perspective plan has
been finalized, and three nodes, Tumkur (KN), Ponneri (TN), and Krishnapatnam
(AP) have also been identified and finalized.
Vizag
Chennai Industrial Corridor (VCIC):
·
The Conceptual
Development Plan has been finalized, and work on preparation of Regional Perspective
Plan (RPP) has been initiated.
·
Four nodes have been
finalized and Asian Development Bank has agreed to prepare Master Plans for the
two identified nodes viz. Vizag and Yerpedu-Srikalahasti, for which parcels of
land have been identified. .
Bengaluru
Mumbai Economic Corridor (BMEC):
·
Draft perspective plan
has been prepared.
Amritsar
Kolkata Industrial Corridor (AKIC):
·
DMICDC has been
entrusted with the responsibility of preparing feasibility report.
National Industrial Corridor Development
Authority (NICDA)
·
National
Industrial Corridor Development Authority (NICDA) is being created.
6. Modified Industrial Infrastructure
Upgradation Scheme (MIIUS) : ‘In
principle’ approval have been accorded for 21 projects involving central grant
of Rs.550.00 crore under the ‘Modified Industrial Infrastructure Upgradation
Scheme (MIIUS)’ .Out of the above projects, 15 State Implementing Agencies have
submitted detailed proposals which are being evaluated by National Productivity
Council, Project Management Agency(PMA) for granting ‘final approval’.
7. Important
Developments in Industries Administered by DIPP
Leather Sector
·
One of the major
activities under Indian Leather Development Programme is to provide placement
linked skill development training to unemployed youth.
·
As against the target
set out for 2014-15 to provide training under this programme to 54,000 persons,
training has been provided to 92,500 unemployed persons in the current year.
During 12th Plan period, 200503 persons have been trained and 161773
(80%) placed in the Leather Sector.
·
Government is taking
steps to ramp up this training programme to cover 1,38,000 persons for 2014-15
with mandatory placement of at least 75% by March 2015 and 1,44,000 persons
during 2015-16.
·
For augmentation of
institutional infrastructure, funds have been released for establishment of two
new branches of Footwear Design & Development Institute at Banur (Punjab)
and Ankleshwar (Gujarat).
·
In addition, 194
leather units have been disbursed assistance of Rs.40 crore for completion of
their modernization and technology upgradation.
·
Approval
has been given for pilot project – Co-digestion of Tannery Solid waste with
Biogas Generation in Calcutta Leather Complex (CLC) under Solid Waste
Management component of the Leather Technology, Innovation & Environmental
Issues sub-scheme of ILDP.
Boiler
·
Modified regulations
and several forms to simplify registration of boilers and to reduce paperwork
for boiler manufacturers & users have been undertaken.
·
State Governments have
been advised to introduce self- certification and third party inspection in
Boilers.
·
Qualification and
experience for Competent Persons have been rationalized to facilitate increase
in availability of Competent Persons for third party inspection. This will
facilitate both, boiler manufactures as well as boiler users.
·
Regulations have been
amended to increase time period between inspections requiring mandatory shut
down of the boilers in power plants and continuous process plants which will
result in increase in production from these plants.
·
Regulations have been
framed for prescribing procedure/criteria for approval of boiler/boiler
component manufacturers in the country. It will result in increase in
transparency and setting of minimum quality standards for boilers
manufacturers.
·
Provisions have been
made in boiler regulations for on-line submission of applications for
registration of boilers and for recognition of Well Knownfirms to do
self-certification of their activities without approaching Inspecting
Authorities.
·
Time period for
evaluation of firms by Evaluation Committee of the Central Boilers Board for
recognition of Well Known firms reduced from 120 days to 90 days for
manufacturing works in foreign countries and to 60 days for manufacturing works
in the country.
·
Provision made in
boiler regulations for recognition of welders by the third party inspecting authorities
which will facilitate boiler and boiler component manufacturers.
·
Time period have been
prescribed for recognition of qualification of welders by the Competent
Authorities.
Salt
·
Identification of surplus salt land for development of
infrastructure facilities for manufacturing sector is being carried out.
·
Surplus salt land
transferred in ( a)Tamil Nadu : EPL (764.64 acres), BPCL (100 acres), NTECL
(75.19 acres) and ETPS (24.81 acres) for developmental activities on
payment of market value of the land, IPAB in Tondiarpet (1.2 acre), (b) Andhra
Pradesh : Customs and Central Excise( 0.5 acre), (c) Maharashtra: National
Highway Authority of India (23.07 acre).
·
The policy for
transport of salt by rail was reframed and allocation of wagons to salt
manufacturers was streamlined.
Explosives
·
It has been decided
that no licence under the Industries (Development and Regulation) Act, 1951
will be necessary by mine owners to manufacture Ammonium Nitrate Fuel Oil
(ANFO) explosives. This will help mine owners using ANFO to continue mining
operations and will help the development of cement industry as well as the
construction sector.
·
Tapering of user fee to
Licensing Authority (PESO) has been introduced to ensure that explosives
manufacturers are required to pay less for production/ storage for increased
slabs beyond a ceiling. Licence fees for magazines used for fireworks has been
kept less compared to other explosives. Fees for export of explosives and
fireworks have been abolished.
·
Keeping in view
technological developments, the security scenario and demands of the
stakeholders, an extensive exercise to review the Rules administered by PESO
has been undertaken.
Development Councils
and Measures for Standardisation
·
Development council for
the following industries has been constituted for Foundry Industry and Paper
Industry.
·
The DIPP has taken up
the issue of preparation of standards for lead free paints with BIS. In the
first phase 9 items relating to different types of paints have been identified
in consultation with the Indian Paint Association (IPA). BIS has finalized the
standards for these 9 items.
DEPARTMENT
OF COMMERCE
I. WTO matters
·
India
and USA successfully resolved their differences relating to the issue of Public
Stock Holding for Food Security purposes.
·
The
General Council of WTO also adopted a protocol to make Trade Facilitation
Agreement a part of WTO agreement.
II. Foreign Trade
and Foreign Trade Policy
·
Intensive
discussions underway with Department of Revenue to finalise new Foreign Trade
Policy (2014-19).
·
For
mainstreaming of exports from States a matrix developed and sent to all State
Governments. 6 States have finalised export strategy and 3 States have already
appointed Export Commissioners.
·
Digitisation,
simplification, trade facilitation, reduction in transaction costs have been
taken up as an ongoing exercise by DGFT to enable online access on trade
statistics and facilitation.
III. Bilateral Relations
·
ASEAN-INDIA
agreements on “Trade in Services and Investment” were signed (except
Philippines).
IV. Special
Economic Zones ;
·
Service
Delivery -
Activities related to Developers and Units in SEZs were identified and
timelines for completion of the said activities were prescribed and
implemented. Launched on 14.08.2014 in all Zones.
·
Digitization and online processing of various
activities relating to SEZ Developers and Units has been introduced in all
Zones from 01.11.2014.
Initiatives For Implementation in
next 6-12 months :
·
Mixed land
use in non-processing areas to be allowed.
V. Gems and
Jewellery Sector
·
World
Diamond Conference successfully organised.
·
Long
term procurement agreement between Alroza and Indian Diamond firms for supply
of rough diamonds signed.
VI. Good Governance initiatives:
DGFT
·
A
simplified system for issuance of Importer Exporter Code (IEC) online will
become operational w.e.f. Jan 1, 2015.
·
A
Complaint Resolution System for Resolution of EDI related issues has been set
up.
VII.
Achievements related to IT :
·
Website
and intranet portal of the Department of Commerce revamped, redesigning and
improvement of the websites of 33 Export Promotion Councils already taken up.
XXX