By Our Correspondent
NEW DELHI/BHUBANESWAR: Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday held virtual meeting with the industry ministers of states, UT administrators and senior officers of the central and State Governments. The issues of pushing industrial manufacturing in the country, attracting investments, pushing the approach of ‘One District One Product’ (ODOP), and promoting a National Movement Towards ‘AatmaNirbhar Bharat’ were discussed in the meeting.
Piyush Goyal e-launched the National GIS-enabled Land Bank system (https://iis.ncog.gov.in/parks). The systemisbeing developed by integration of Industrial Information System (IIS) with State GIS Systems. Project was launched for 6 states. Launching the system, Goyal expressed the confidence that other States/UTs will be onboarded by Dec 2020. He said that this is a prototype only and will be developed further with inputs from states, to make it an effective, transparent mechanism of land identification and procurement.
IIS portal is a GIS-enabled database of industrial areas/clusters across the states. More than 3,300industrial parks across 31 States/UTs covering about 475,000 hectare land have been mapped on the System. Information availableincludes forest, drainage; raw material heat maps (agricultural, horticulture, mineral layers); multiple layers of connectivity. National GIS-enabled Land. The IIS adopts a committed approach towards resource optimization, industrial upgradation and sustainability. The initiative is being supported by Invest India, National Center of Geo-Informatics (NCoG), National e-Governance Division (NeGD), Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology and Bhaskaracharya Institute for Space Applications and Geo-Informatics (BISAG).
In his address, Goyal called upon the states to collectively work in the spirit of ‘Team India’ to enhance industrial activity in the country, attract investment and provide a better life to 1.3 billion people of India, and better prospects for the coming generations. He said that Aatamnirbhar Bharat, a self-reliant country has to increase engagement with the world, from the position of confidence and strength. India has to achieve the target of 5 trillion dollar economy in five years. For this, manufacturing has to play an important role, which can provide employment and value addition, he added.
Goyal called upon the states to adopt the Public Procurement Policy-Make in India Order issued by the Centre. He said that it is an effective tool to achieve Aatamnirbhar Bharat and boost local manufacturing. Under this, No Global Tender Enquiry is permitted for procurements less than Rs.200 crores. Bidders with beneficial ownership /belonging to countries sharing land border with India, will be able to participate in Government procurements only after a mandatory registration, based on clearances given by MEA,MHA &Procuring Ministries.
Countries where Indian companies face restrictive trade practises, invocation of the reciprocity clause may be invoked. The Minister asked the states to appoint a senior officer who can facilitate its quick adoption. He said that the order promotes Aatamnirbhar Bharat and would open a large number of employment opportunities, and hence there is no reason for any objection to this order by any state. State Governments of Manipur, Nagaland and Sikkim have adopted the Order so far.
The Minister also stressed on developing a single-window system, which could be One-stop digital platform to obtain all requisite central and state clearances/approvals, required to start business operations in India. This could eliminate the need for investors to visit multiple platforms/offices to gather information and obtain clearances from different stakeholders. It could leverage capabilities of existing systems and provide time-bound approvals and real-time status update to investors. Shri Goyal said that there could be a single application form which could entail Single-time upload of all relevant information & documents. He said that even the local bodies should also be involved in this system, and a notion of Deemed approval can be adopted to make the system effective. Stating that the Window could be the showpiece of our cooperative, collaborative federalism, he called upon all the states to join hands with the DPIIT.
On the approach of ‘One District One Product’ (ODOP), Shri Goyal said that this could help in making India a Manufacturing Powerhouse. He said that every district has some speciality, strengths or uniqueness, and ODOP could be a transformational step forward realizing the true potential of a district, fuel economic growth and generate employment and rural entrepreneurship. The approach seeks to add existing industrial capacity beyond the urban areas and create productive manufacturing from a rural/semi urban area.
Goyal said that the future manufacturing clusters may also have low value addition manufacturing cluster in rural India. Calling for scaling it up as a national movement, he assured the Centre’s help in packaging, branding and global marketing of such products. The Minister said that states should identify products with a market potential for import substitution and export accentuation, and establish forward and backward market linkage channels. On the issue of Districts as Export Hubs, the Minister said that States/UTs have been requested to identify products unique to each district, and requested them to integrate with their district level exports strategies which feed into the State level export strategies.
Referring to the Hon’ble Prime Minister’s Independence Day Announcement on Vocal for Local, Shri Goyal said thatpublic procurement from domestic manufacturers is being encouraged through Government e Marketplace (GeM),which has made it mandatory for sellers to enter the Country of Origin while registering all new products on GeM. GeM has enabled a provision for indication of the percentage of local content for all products in the marketplace. He said that local products not only have to be promoted domestically but also at the global level. He said that for Make in India for the World, District and cluster level export strategy will benefit artisans and small and micro scale producers thereby integrating them directly with global supply chains.
On the expectations from State Governments for implementation of Agri Export Policy, Shri Goyal said that only 14 States have finalised Action Plans, and he called upon others to finalize theirs expeditiously. The states were requested to designate Nodal Agencies & Nodal Officers for the purpose, and also set up State Level Monitoring Committees.
On the issue of Value Addition in Exports, Shri Goyal said that India’s exports bucket presently has a large share of primary products (Iron ore, minerals, etc.) and low value addition products. He stressed on the need for the States to incentivize value addition activity in not only Agri but also industrial products with PLI incentives to bring a large scale economies of scale.
Referring to the institutional mechanisms to fast-track investments in the country, Shri Goyal said that Empowered Group of Secretaries (E-GoS) and Project Development Cells (PDCs) in various Ministries have been set up at the Centre. He asked the states to evolve their own mechanism on the similar lines.
On the issue of regulatory burden at the State-level, Goyal said that Regulatorycomplianceburden has an adverse effect on time and cost of business. It also leads to increase in corruption and promotes rent seeking behavior. Calling upon the Complete Review of Acts/Rules for identifying all Licenses, Certificates, Permissions; Inspections; Return filings; Registers and Records and minimize regulatory compliance, Goyal said that simplification of procedures will help in attracting investments from abroad and also lead to Ease of doing Business for the domestic investors.
The Minister of State in the Ministry of commerce and Industry Shri Som Parkash said that states have to play an important role in making India a manufacturing hub and attract investment. He called upon them to identify products in each district which can then be promoted.
The state ministers, in the meeting, narrated their experiences, perceptions, achievements, requirements and suggestions, some of which were duly acknowledged and appreciated by Goyal in his concluding remarks. A detailed presentation by the Officers of DPIIT was made, covering various subjects, during the meeting..
