Exclusive| Govt to launch single-window clearance portal in April

An aerial view of a site under construction at the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT) at Gandhinagar, in the western Indian state of Gujarat, April 11, 2015. India's push to accommodate a booming urban population and attract investment rests in large part with dozens of "smart" cities like the one being built on the dusty banks of the Sabarmati river in western India. Picture taken April 11, 2015. REUTERS/Amit Dave - GF10000057731

The government will launch its one-stop portal for foreign and domestic investors next month, which will help entrepreneurs secure various clearances and is expected to further raise India’s rank in ease of doing business.

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT’s) is giving final touches to the five-year-old plan which was earlier expected to be finalised by the end of last year, but was delayed by the pandemic and differences between states regarding available infrastructure and efficient data on land banks, officials said.

The portal will provide unified and integrated business procedures, risk-based self-regulation and third-party certifications apart from giving information on land banks and facilitating clearances from the Centre and states. It will also pre-investment advisory and information on land banks.

In the 2020 budget, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said the investment clearance cell would provide end-to-end facilitation and support.

The portal was initially planned for foreign investors, but it would be equally helpful for domestic entrepreneurs and investors. "The new portal is being set up to provide a major boost to ease of doing business and is being primed by the DPIIT to drastically change India's global rankings in the World Bank index and the way industries are set up on the ground," he said.

More than half a decade after the Narendra Modi government pushed for reducing and consolidating the clearance process, the entrepreneur still needs approvals from multiple departments. The Economic Survey 2020-21 shows that to start manufacturing in India, a person, on average, needs to abide by 6,796 separate compliance items mandated by 51 central and state laws.

To start other businesses, the maze of laws is also equally confusing. For instance, to legally sell food in Delhi, one needs a ‘Police Eating House License’ from Delhi Police that asks for 45 documents, as compared to just 19 needed to buy a gun.

The proposed portal will allow a plethora of be connected to Invest India, Startup India, industry departments of every state, and other necessary portals. The focus is to provide as much information to investors as possible, allowing them to zoom into the available investment options in specific sectors in specific geographies, another official said.

Last year, the government had integrated Industrial Information System (IIS) portal with the Geographic Information System of six states initially to provide updates on land availability and plot-level information to investors on a real-time basis and help them make informed decisions.