Summary:
Punjab has easiest procedures to set up a business, according to a study by the World Bank and KPMG Punjab had set up a Bureau of Investment Promotion (BIP) in December 2013 for one-stop clearance of investment proposals. Jagjit Singh Kochar, economic adviser to the Punjab committee of the chamber, said apart from the actual ease of doing business, the perception about the state is as significant and that is why scoring high on such parameters in future is crucial.The industrialists hope that the state government would take the dipping score as a wake-up call. CHANDIGARH: Punjab’s recent slip in ease of doing business to the 20th rank has come as a rude shock for both the state government and independent observers, prompting the industry to highlight the grey areas.Punjab needs to cover much ground and the research bureau of PHD chamber of industry and commerce has now come up with a list of suggestions based on an extensive reality check on the state of affairs in the industry sector of the state.Better use of online interface and time-bound disposal of applications seem to be the two board areas where the state’s industry department needs to focus. For instance, an obvious facility like developing an online system available in public to publish real time status of applications submitted to the departments concerned for obtaining clearances is yet to become fully operational in the state.Another key suggestion of the department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP) that needs to be made operational is defining working procedures for the investors’ facilitation center/bureau for queries regarding the application and approval process, recording and ticketing, service timelines for query handling, aligning relationship managers and reverting back to investors. As per the Business Reform Action Plan 2017, the state has scored 54.77% in the BRAP 2017 score compared to 91.07% in 2016.“The report is an attempt to assess the ground-level reality of reforms implemented by the state and suggest few measures for ease of doing business in the state to facilitate the state government and to bring to their notice further corrections required in implementation of business reform action plan,” said Anil Khaitan , chairman of the chamber.On the brighter side, Punjab has attracted Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) equity inflows worth USD 1.472 billion during the period April 2000 to December 2017..