Chandigarh, April 15: Punjab on Thursday took a major leaptowards becoming a national and global lighthouse for ‘Ease of Doing Businessfor MSME’, with Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh unleashing a fresh waveof reforms to further reduce the regulatory burden on MSMEs through rationalisation,digitalisation and decriminalisation of the regulatory landscape, thus enablingentrepreneurs to focus on expanding their operations in an predictable businessenvironment during this COVID-19 pandemic.
The reforms on removing imprisonment terms, buildingflexibility and reducing oversight in the labour rules, and pursuing a datadriven assessment of service delivery delays are all centered around makingentrepreneurship easier in Punjab, said the Chief Minister, underlining hisgovernment’s commitment to reducing the time, risk, and cost associated withcompliance significantly, freeing up entrepreneurs to focus on growth.
Terming it the beginning of the state’s transformationjourney, the Chief Minister said with these reforms, commitments had been setfor future changes, including rationalising trade license with shops &establishments act and removing imprisonment terms from 100 low risk provisionsin non-labour related rules.
Besides, the Chief Minister announced that the number oflabour registers will be reduced, requiring an entrepreneur to maintain from 60to less than 14, and flexibility enhanced in hiring women employees.Discretionary powers of inspectors are being removed with regard to deductionsrelated to absence or leave, which will be deduced from labour registers goingforward. These changes will be incorporated in the new State Rules.
Further, to ensure timely delivery of key licenses andpermits, as prescribed under the Transparency Act 2018, Government has begun amonthly data driven assessment mechanism under the Chief Secretary to make surenot a single license or permit is delayed beyond the stipulated period.
Going forward, it is also proposed to reduce the number ofPre-commissioning licenses & NOCs to start a business by at least 20%, sothe Government, without due cause, never inhibits an entrepreneur to start anew shop or factory, with the possibility of doing this entirely online beingexplored. In addition, changes will be made in Land Use for starting new businessand mechanisms will be developed for timely and hassle-free water, electricityand sewage connections.
“These reforms are the start of a journey, and we hope tomake Punjab a lighthouse State for MSME growth support,” he said, adding, “Wehave listened to entrepreneurs on the ground and we will continue to reduce thecompliance burden to start, operate, and grow a business.”
Pointing out that Punjab offers one of the best ecosystemsfor entrepreneurs to thrive, the Chief Minister said that under his government,Punjab has emerged as a hub for its unique business-friendly ecosystem thatpromotes entrepreneurship and attracts entrepreneurs from all the corners ofthe world. The evidence of the same is the receipt of investment of about Rs.80,000 Cr with proposed employment of 3 Lac individuals, in last 4 years ofthis Government, he said, adding that the ease of doing business was wooinginvestors to Punjab not only from different corners of India, but also foreigninvestors coming first time to India. Recently received investment projectsfrom countries such as France, South Korea, Denmark, UAE, Japan, USA,Singapore, Germany, UK, he added.
The reforms, launched in partnership with GAME (GlobalAlliance for Mass Entrepreneurship) and Omidyar Network India, prioritise Easeof Doing Business (EoDB) for MSMEs in the state, based on data-informedregulatory changes. The reforms were suggested by the GAME EoDB Task Force’sreport titled “Transforming EoDB for MSMEs in Punjab”. The Task Force was setup on the recommendation of the Montek Ahluwalia committee, set up by the stategovernment to revive business in the post-Covid environment.
GAME is an alliance of organizations that aims to catalyze anation-wide entrepreneurial movement which enables growth and mobility ofExisting and new enterprises, 30% of which are women owned, to create 50 miljobs. Omidyar Network India’s ReSolve Initiative focuses on providing supportfor lighthouse projects that are creating solutions to empower MSMEs as well asmigrant workers.
Chief Secretary Vini Mahajan said on the occasion that thelaunch today is a promising start in partnership with GAME, Omidyar NetworkIndia, Trayas Foundation, Avantis RegTech, and Center for Civil Society toimplement substantive changes. Data driven thought leadership, and strongGovernment commitment were the key to the early success of this partnership,she said, adding that a monthly data-oriented assessment of delays in licensesand permits will be undertaken to ensure that entrepreneurs do not losevaluable time in starting or scaling their business. She lauded the Departmentof Investment Promotion, Industries & Commerce and Labour for stewardingthese reforms admirably.
Sharing his thoughts, Dr. KP Krishnan, IAS (Retd), Formersecretary, Government of India who is also the Chairperson of the GAME EoDBTaskforce, said “With the lockdown hitting MSMEs the hardest, the time is ripefor the State to intervene. The recommendations of the taskforce will help doaway with outdated regulations that hindered formalization and growth of MSMEsand help them thrive as the engine of the Indian economy”.
Talking about GAME’s work in Punjab, Ravi Venkatesan,Founder, Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship (GAME) said, “Punjab hasshown that when there is political will and committed administrativeleadership, it is possible for Government, civil society, private sector andsmall business owners particularly to work together and achieve dramaticprogress in a short period of time through simplification, digitization anddecriminalization.
Roopa Kudva, the Managing Director Omidyar Network India, aninvestment firm, focused on the social impact of business.
Notably, Punjab has a strong industrial base of over 2 lakhMSMEs that form the backbone of manufacturing in the State. Thus, Captain Amarinder Government has consistently focusedon promoting growth of MSMEs in Punjab. Many of the reforms undertaken byPunjab in recent times such as the Punjab Right to Business Act 2020 are notonly geared at enhancing EoDB in general but particularly facilitate a seamlessregulatory environment for MSMEs.
The reforms on removing imprisonment terms, buildingflexibility and reducing oversight in our labour rules, and pursuing a datadriven assessment of service delivery delays are all centered around makingentrepreneurship easier in Punjab; we believe, these will reduce the time,risk, and cost associated with compliance significantly, freeing upentrepreneurs to focus on growth.