Ahead Of The Union Finance Budget, CII suggests 10-Point Agenda On Ease Of Doing Business Reforms| What Are These?

In a continuously evolving competitive environment globally, coupled with rapidly changing geopolitical and economic conditions, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), while underscoring that there is a need to maintain the momentum especially in certain specific areas, has suggested reforms highlighting the Ease of Doing Business (EoDB).

Emphasising that India over the past decade remained focused on improving ease of doing business (EoDB), Mr. Chandrajit Banerjee, CII Director General, said, “Simplifying regulatory frameworks, reducing compliance burdens and enhancing transparency should continue to remain our focus agenda for next several years. Compliances for industry related to various areas such as land, labour, dispute resolution, paying taxes and environment offer a vast scope for reduction, vital for boosting competitiveness, driving economic growth and employment generation.”

The 10 specific EoDB areas where urgent policy interventions would be immensely helpful are as follows:

1. All regulatory approvals—central, state, and local levels—must mandatorily be provided only through the National Single Window System (NSWS), which will help in bringing about transparency and speed in the processes. In the first stage, this should be completed for all central ministries within the next six months, followed by bringing states on the platform in a phased manner. A dedicated central budget could be allocated for the purpose, especially from the point of view of incentivizing states to shift completely to the portal.
2. With a view to ensuring timely processing of industry applications and delivery of services from the central ministries, an Act imposing statutory obligation on all public authorities for time-bound delivery of services and redressal of grievances could be passed, with the provision of deemed approval beyond the prescribed timeline.
3. Expedite the process of dispute resolution through both improving the capacity of courts and placing greater reliance on the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanism. States with a high pendency of cases need to set up more commercial courts while also working on increasing the efficiency of the existing judicial system. Similarly, there is a need to encourage and promote the use of conciliation, mediation, and arbitration, which would, among other key measures, require allocation of central budget and establishing the Mediation Council of India and Arbitration Council of India at the earliest.
4. The scope of the National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG), which has been set up to identify, manage, and reduce the pendency of cases across the courts, needs to be expanded to include the data of tribunals, which constitute a substantial chunk of pending cases in the system.
5. Introduce a unified framework for streamlining environmental compliances, consolidating all requirements into a single document. Relevant provisions of the Water Act, 1974, and the Air Act, 1981, can be incorporated into the Environmental Protection Act, 1986, to centralize air and water pollution regulations. A performance-based incentive system can also be established to recognize companies that consistently exceed environmental standards by offering expedited environmental/forest approvals, clearances, and permits.
6. Easy access to land is important to facilitate new or expanding businesses. States may be incentivized to develop an Online Integrated Land Authority with the objective of streamlining land banks, digitizing and integrating land records, providing information on disputed land, and guiding necessary reforms. To assist industry in land acquisition across the nation, the India Industrial Land Bank (IILB), which currently provides information on land across the majority of states, can be evolved into a National Level Land Bank, with dedicated central budget support.
7. Labour compliances continue to be extensive and arduous and await the implementation of the four Labour Codes. Additionally, the scope of the Shram Suvidha Portal, which currently facilitates integrated compliances in just a few select central Acts, needs to be expanded to function as a centralized portal for all central and state labour law compliances.
8. Improving trade facilitation is important. The Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) programme, which allows numerous priority clearances to members, could be made more attractive and easier to join. Additional benefits could include increasing the period of deferred duty payment from 15 days to 30 days, simplifying the renewal process for AEO Tier 2 and Tier 3 by allowing renewals based on self-declaration, and permitting MSMEs to join the programme with 10 shipping bills in a year rather than five in each two halves of the year.
9. Allied legal metrology rules should be in sync with the International Organization of Legal Metrology (OIML) for greater trade facilitation regarding declarations on retail products for imports. Further, imported Weights & Measures (W&M) equipment certified by OIML-approved labs, with no alterations or modifications made before sale, should be exempted from additional Indian Model Approval.
10. High and rising pendency of tax disputes is a major issue, and there is a need to minimize income tax litigation by unclogging the pendency at the level of the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) and improving the effectiveness of ADR mechanisms such as Advance Pricing Agreement (APA), Boards for Advance Rulings (BAR), and Dispute Resolution Scheme (DRS).

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