To boost ‘Ease of Doing Business’ for Micro, Small andMedium Enterprises (MSMEs), the Punjab Cabinet led by Chief Minister CaptainAmarinder Singh on Monday approved a list of NOCs required for setting up ofindustry in the state.
With this move, Punjab has become the first state in thecountry to take systematic proactive steps for improving Ease of Doing Businessin matters of NOCs to enable MSMEs to flourish and prosper in the State.
The Chief Minister had, in his Independence Day speechyesterday, announced the state government’s decision to promote MSME businessin the state, and the list approved today is in line with the same. It is basedon recommendations of the Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship (GAME) - anorganization engaged by Punjab Government to make Punjab a progressiveindustrial hub.
Notably, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signedbetween Department of Industries & Commerce, Punjab and Global Alliance forMass 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’sOffice, the approved exhaustive list of NOCs will be a definitive source forentrepreneurs to access all NOC related information for establishing andoperationalizing business. In future, any addition in the approved list of NOCsshall be made by the concerned Administrative Department after approval fromthe Council of Ministers.
One of the areas identified by GAME is streamlining NOCsrequired by an investor from various departments during thepre-operationalization and post-operationalization stages. However, a full andfinal list of such NOCs and NOC related information, such as the purpose ofNOC, checklist of accompanying documents, and NOC forms, are currently noteasily available. At present, most of the NOCs are also issued manually.
Paucity of such information and lack of clear procedurefor obtaining NOCs was causing major problems for entrepreneurs wanting to setup business in Punjab, the cabinet noted. It was thus felt necessary to put adetailed list of NOCs in place in order reduce the compliance burden onenterprises 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 ALCOHOLICPRODUCTS’ MANUFACTURING UNITS
In a bid to boost the utilization of agro waste availablein the state for manufacturing of Bio-fuels, the Cabinet also approvedamendment to the Industrial & Business Development Policy-2017 to exemptthe standalone units that are manufacturing alcoholic products.
It may be recalled that the Government of India hadnotified the National Policy on Biofuels –2018 under the Ethanol Blended Petrol(EBP) Programme, with an indicative target of 20% blending of ethanol in petrolby 2025. The programme aims at achieving multiple outcomes, such as addressingenvironmental concerns, reducing import dependency and providing boost toagriculture sector.
In order to promote production and supply of Ethanol forEthanol Blended Petrol (EBP) Program of Government of India, the PunjabGovernment has exempted the standalone units manufacturing alcoholic products,like ethanol, which are not included in Division no. 11 – “Manufacture ofBeverages” of NIC Code 2008 from the negative list of industry under Industrial& Business Development Policy, 2017, provided only those Bio-ethanol unitswill become eligible for incentive whichshall install paddy straw fuel based boilers.
The ethyl alcohol is generally manufactured from maizeand rice grains, and the government is also promoting the usage ofbroken/damaged grains by the distilleries for manufacturing of ethanol.Therefore, the diversification of agriculture to maize crop may also get boostwith the requirement of ethanol for blending in the petrol as per NationalBio-fuel Policy.
OKAYS SALE OF HOUSES BUILT UNDER SIHS FOR INDUSTRIALWORKERS
The Council of Ministers further approved the proposalmooted by the Labour department to sell the houses built under the SubsidisedIndustrial Housing Scheme (SIHS) for Industrial Workers under Punjab IndustrialHousing Act, 156. In case of sale of houses constructed under SIHS forindustrial workers under the said Act, no financial burden would be imposed onthe exchequer. The resultant revenue on the sale would be deposited in theGovernment Treasury and poor workers will get housing.