Maharashtra to bring industry-friendly single window act

Dec 14, 2007, 14:43 GMT

Pune, Dec 14 (IANS) The Maharashtra government will have a single window facilitation act by February to encourage small and medium enterprises (SMEs) establish industries in the state, an official said here Friday.

Speaking to IANS, Malini Shankar, the state's development commissioner of industries, said: 'We will have the legislation in place and then it is for the industrialists to make use of it.'

According to Shankar the act will reduce the burden on investors since all clearances required to start and operate an industry will be processed through a single point within a set time.

'The act will simplify the regulatory framework by reducing procedural requirements and rationalising documents and to provide for an investor-friendly environment in Maharashtra,' said she.

Industry leaders, however, reacted cautiously to the announcement and said they would wait and see how the act was implemented.

Pheroz Pudumjee, chairman of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Pune, and director and president of Thermax Ltd, told IANS: 'I had the opportunity to do business overseas. There, you don't have to fight the system so much.'

'Here, we have been losing out on productivity because of lack of speedy implementation of projects,' he said.

Ramesh Datla, deputy chairman of CII's National SME Forum, said: 'The Indian government has lots of comparable good schemes, no less than any developed country, but it is in the implementation where we lack.'

According to Datla, the number of approvals required from a range of different agencies implies additional costs and losing out on the competitive edge.

Shankar said there would be a high-level meeting in Mumbai Saturday to discuss the final draft of the act.

© 2007 Indo-Asian News Service