Chandigarh, February 19: To facilitate new industrialprojects to take off expeditiously without delay, the Punjab Cabinet led byChief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Friday gave the nod to amend thePunjab Bureau of Investment Promotion Act, 2016 for incorporating provisionsfor automated deemed approval of various regulatory clearances.
This enabling provision would not only expedite speedyapproval/clearances but also assure industrial units of a time-frame withinwhich clearances would be granted. With this Punjab becomes one of the fewstates to grant deemed approvals.
The Punjab Bureau of Investment Promotion Amendment Bill,2021, enabling the incorporation of the new provisions will be tabled in theupcoming session of Punjab Vidhan Sabha for enactment.
The investor friendly initiative would be further enhanceease of doing business and instill greater confidence amongst entrepreneurs andindustrialists in the state, by providing system generated deemed approvals andauto renewals based on self-certification, an official spokesperson said afterthe cabinet meet.
The system generated automated Deemed Approvals for statelevel clearances shall be provided through the IP-BFP on behalf of theCompetent Authority from departments such as Punjab Pollution Control Board,Punjab Food & Drugs Administration, Department of Food Civil Supplies andConsumer Affairs, Labour Commissioner-cum-Director of Factories, Department ofLocal Government, Department of Excise & Taxation, Department of Financeand Department of Housing & Urban Development.
Investors will be required to provide anundertaking/self-certification assuring compliance with all the provisions ofapplicable Acts/rules/regulations at the initial stage of filing CommonApplication Form (CAF) itself. Such deemed approvals would be granted onreal-time basis automatically without human intervention, thus bringing greatertransparency and accountability into the system. In addition to the protocolfor deemed clearances, a system of 'Auto Renewals' of clearances has also beenintroduced based on self -certification.
Punjab has been rapidly progressing on the path ofindustrialization, with the state government introducing attractive incentivesunder the comprehensive Industrial & Business Development Policy 2017.Additionally, Punjab Government has taken multiple transformative actions tocreate a business-friendly environment in the State, including the introductionof the Punjab Right to Business Act 2020 that allows MSMEs to set up in Punjab withno prior clearances based on self-certification.
Another novel step has been the launch of an end-to-endonline single window portal i.e. the Invest Punjab - Business First Portal(IP-BFP), for provision of time-bound regulatory clearances without anyphysical touch points. It provides 80+ clearances from 12+ departments alongwith features such as digital fee payment, real time online tracking etc.Recently, Invest Punjab, the exclusive Investment Promotion Agency (IPA) ofPunjab Government, has been recognized as the ‘Top Performing’ State IPA byGovernment of India.