To boost ‘Ease of Doing Business’ for Micro, Small and
Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), the Punjab Cabinet led by Chief Minister Captain
Amarinder Singh on Monday approved a list of NOCs required for setting up of
industry in the state.
With this move, Punjab has become the first state in the
country to take systematic proactive steps for improving Ease of Doing Business
in matters of NOCs to enable MSMEs to flourish and prosper in the State.
The Chief Minister had, in his Independence Day speech
yesterday, announced the state government’s decision to promote MSME business
in the state, and the list approved today is in line with the same. It is based
on recommendations of the Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship (GAME) - an
organization engaged by Punjab Government to make Punjab a progressive
industrial hub.
Notably, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed
between Department of Industries & Commerce, Punjab and Global Alliance for
Mass Entrepreneurship (GAME) in November 2020, with a tenure of two years i.e.
from 02.11.2020 to 02.11.2022, to initiate new industry reforms.
According to a spokesperson of the Chief Minister’s
Office, the approved exhaustive list of NOCs will be a definitive source for
entrepreneurs to access all NOC related information for establishing and
operationalizing business. In future, any addition in the approved list of NOCs
shall be made by the concerned Administrative Department after approval from
the Council of Ministers.
One of the areas identified by GAME is streamlining NOCs
required by an investor from various departments during the
pre-operationalization and post-operationalization stages. However, a full and
final list of such NOCs and NOC related information, such as the purpose of
NOC, checklist of accompanying documents, and NOC forms, are currently not
easily available. At present, most of the NOCs are also issued manually.
Paucity of such information and lack of clear procedure
for obtaining NOCs was causing major problems for entrepreneurs wanting to set
up business in Punjab, the cabinet noted. It was thus felt necessary to put a
detailed list of NOCs in place in order reduce the compliance burden on
enterprises and to fulfill the mandates of the Punjab Right to Business Act,
2020, and the Punjab Anti-Red Tape Act, 2021.
APPROVES POLICY AMENDMENT FOR STANDALONE ALCOHOLIC
PRODUCTS’ MANUFACTURING UNITS
In a bid to boost the utilization of agro waste available
in the state for manufacturing of Bio-fuels, the Cabinet also approved
amendment to the Industrial & Business Development Policy-2017 to exempt
the standalone units that are manufacturing alcoholic products.
It may be recalled that the Government of India had
notified the National Policy on Biofuels –2018 under the Ethanol Blended Petrol
(EBP) Programme, with an indicative target of 20% blending of ethanol in petrol
by 2025. The programme aims at achieving multiple outcomes, such as addressing
environmental concerns, reducing import dependency and providing boost to
agriculture sector.
In order to promote production and supply of Ethanol for
Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) Program of Government of India, the Punjab
Government has exempted the standalone units manufacturing alcoholic products,
like ethanol, which are not included in Division no. 11 – “Manufacture of
Beverages” of NIC Code 2008 from the negative list of industry under Industrial
& Business Development Policy, 2017, provided only those Bio-ethanol units
will become eligible for incentive which
shall install paddy straw fuel based boilers.
The ethyl alcohol is generally manufactured from maize
and rice grains, and the government is also promoting the usage of
broken/damaged grains by the distilleries for manufacturing of ethanol.
Therefore, the diversification of agriculture to maize crop may also get boost
with the requirement of ethanol for blending in the petrol as per National
Bio-fuel Policy.
OKAYS SALE OF HOUSES BUILT UNDER SIHS FOR INDUSTRIAL
WORKERS
The Council of Ministers further approved the proposal
mooted by the Labour department to sell the houses built under the Subsidised
Industrial Housing Scheme (SIHS) for Industrial Workers under Punjab Industrial
Housing Act, 156. In case of sale of houses constructed under SIHS for
industrial workers under the said Act, no financial burden would be imposed on
the exchequer. The resultant revenue on the sale would be deposited in the
Government Treasury and poor workers will get housing.