TS-IPASS and Ease of Doing Business ....... Statement of Minister KT Rama Rao TS Legislative Assembly

TS-IPASS and Ease of Doing Business

Statement of Minister KT Rama Rao

TS Legislative Assembly

26-12-2016

The State Government has enacted the Telangana State Industrial Project Approval & Self Certification System (TS-iPASS) Act - 2014. Under this Act, Telangana is the only State in the country that has accorded a legal right for the investor to get industrial clearance, provided all compliances are in order.

TS-iPASS is implemented through an end-to-end interactive online system. While the approval for MEGA projects (investment of more than Rs.200 crores. or an employment potential of more than 1000) is accorded within 15 days, the approval for all other projects is granted within 30 days. To make the system accountable, there is a provision of levying a penalty of Rs. l, 000 per day on any officer delaying the process and approval is deemed to have been granted after the stipulated period is over. TS-iPASS obviates the need to meet any official and gives all approvals in a time bound manner. Thus it is a graft free industrial approval process.

TS-iPASS has been a revolutionary step in the Ease of Doing Business (EoDB). The number of documents to be attached to an Industrial Application has been brought down from 110 to just 10, without compromising on the quality of the information. A system of self certification is introduced in Labor, Boilers, Factories, Pollution Control Board and Industries departments which not only cuts time but also instills a greater sense of trust and responsibility on the Industry.

So far, a total of 2929 industries have been accorded approvals involving an investment of Rs.49, 463 crores including investments of TSGENCO. The total direct employment potential in these industries is estimated to be 1, 95, 390 and the indirect employment will be another 3 lakhs, thus a total of about 5 lakhs employment potential has been created. So far, 1138 industries have actually commenced commercial production, 405 are in advance stage of completion and balance is under various stages of construction.

Ease of Doing Business

In addition to the above, as a part of State's initiative to create a Business friendly eco-system, we have made several systemic changes in the manner business is done in the State. For example, under a system of Joint Inspection, a unit that used to be inspected 30 times in a period of 5 years will now be inspected only once in five years by a Joint Team of all concerned departmental officers. Further, 57 registers that used to be maintained are now consolidated to 2 Registers and 14 Returns are now consolidated to just one Return. HMDA has introduced a "Development Permission Management system" (DPMS) which is also being implemented by DTCP & GHMC, wherein the building permissions are now being given in 14 days which earlier used to take several months. Likewise, the "PCB license" which used to be valid for 1 year has been made valid for 5 years and "Factory license" is made valid for 10 years, which earlier required renewal every year. Thus, Government of Telangana has created a business friendly environment that would benefit not only the new investors, but also the existing businesses at all stages of their operations and the state thus is truly an investment friendly state.

Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Ministry of Commerce and Industry (M o C&I), Government of India (GoI) has taken up evaluation of all States on a 340-point "Business Reform Action Plan" which aims at increasing the "Ease of Doing Business". As a part of this Action Plan, to enhance transparency and accountability and ensure graft free administration, we have launched 113 online services across 22 Government Departments. As a result of all these efforts, I would like to inform this August house with a sense of great pride that Telangana, the youngest State of the Country secured 1st Rank in "Ease of Doing Buisness-20 16" and has been declared by Ministry of Commerce, Government of India as the National Topper with a score of 98.78%.

The State intends to continue the reforms process, aimed now at the cost & quality aspects of doing business, capturing the health of the functional industry with special focus on MSME sector and streamlining the system of claiming incentives through an online process.