States undertake reforms to score high on business index

News:

• States have been trying to ring in reforms rapidly after the Union government decided to rank them in ease of doing business.
• An early list compiled by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) shows substantial progress, led by Maharashtra.
• States are competing with each other in showering attention on big foreign companies.
• This chimes with Prime Minister Modi’s Make in India programme, which looks to turn the country into a manufacturing hub similar to China.
• Maharashtra leads other states by a big margin in terms of total foreign investment drawn, accounting for 29% of flows since April 2000.
• Maharashtra and Kerala have allowed self-certification for a number of labour laws.
• Uttar Pradesh has hastened the submission of reports under various labour acts to within 72 hours of inspections.
• Andhra Pradesh has set up a system for the random allocation of inspectors and computerized risk assessment based inspections under various labour laws.
• Gujarat has an online system for environment and pollution-related approval besides luxury and entertainment tax.
• Andhra Pradesh has started a single-window system using an IT-enabled platform to provide all clearances for setting up an industrial operation within 21 days.
• Kerala has implemented an online consent management system for various pollution and environment-related clearances and certificates.
• Madhya Pradesh has put in place an automated building plan approval system.

Source: ET