AP Industrial Policy-2015-20 proposes to Clear licenses for setting up business in 21 clear days

Andhra Pradesh Single Desk Policy

Index

1. Introduction to Andhra Pradesh
2. State Level Clearance Mechanism
3. District Level Mechanism
4. Coverage of Approvals and Clearances and associated timelines
5. Measures to simplify process and procedures

Government of Andhra Pradesh

Department of Industries & Commerce

Sub: Andhra Pradesh Single Desk Policy

Introduction to Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh is strategically located on the Southeast coast of India and is a natural gateway to East & Southeast Asia. The state has a population of 4.93 crores (as per population census – 2011), accounting for 4% of country’s population, residing in 4 9% of country’s geographical area. Andhra Pradesh has abundant natural resources (barytes, limestone, bauxite, and a number of minor minerals), fertile land and river basins, water resources, extensive canal system and conducive agro-climatic conditions. The State has the second longest coastline in India and is also one of the largest producers of marine products.

At current prices, the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) of Andhra Pradesh was ₹4,75,859

Single Desk Policy

Time taken to obtain all clearances to set up industry is core to measuring the ease of doing business. The Single Desk Policy aims to create a conducive ecosystem to provide all clearances required to setup industry within 21 working days. This shall be achieved by adopting following measures:

• Policy: Review of applicable Acts, Rules and policies of respective Competent Authorities with the objective of speedy clearances.
• Institutional: Strengthening capacity of respective Competent Authorities, District Industries Centers (DICs) etc.
• Process Streamlining: Streamlining operations of respective Competent Authorities and Nodal Agencies by effective monitoring and tracking by investors as well as Competent Authorities.

1. State Level Clearance Mechanism

Clearances for all proposals for investments in new industrial units or expansion of existing industrial units which exceeds the investment threshold of MSME sector will be dealt with at the State level. The state level clearance mechanism shall comprise of the following:

1.1. State Single Desk Bureau: The Single Desk Bureau (Bureau) will be chaired by the Commissioner of Industries and shall comprise of Head of Departments (HoDs) from departments mentioned in 1.2. This Bureau shall be supported by a robust IT application for tracking and monitoring of all industrial clearances. The members of the Bureau shall ensure that department-specific clearances are provided within stipulated timelines. The Commissioner of Industries will be authorized to issue specific clearances should the concerned department not provide clearance after following due process within stipulated time. The responsibility of any such clearance being provided by the Commissioner of Industries due to delay on behalf of specific department shall lie with the HoD of that department. Industries and Commerce Department shall examine and ensure that enabling provisions are made in concerned Acts / Rules to empower Commissioner of Industries accordingly. The Bureau shall meet once a fortnight on 3^rd and 16^th day of every month. In case if either 3^rd or 16^th day of any month is a holiday, the Bureau shall meet on the next working day. It shall be mandatory for members of the Bureau to attend the above meetings in person. In the absence of Commissioner of Industries, Additional Director, Industries will chair the meetings of the Bureau. Minutes of these meetings shall be communicated to the Chief Secretary regularly.

1.2. The composition of the Bureau is as indicated below:

i. Director of Industries Chairman

ii. VC and MD, APIIC Member

iii. CMD, AP TRANSCO Member

iv. Addl. Secretary, Dept. of Energy Member

v. Chief Electrical Inspectorate Member

vi. Commissioner, CT Dept. Member

vii. Commissioner, Panchayat Raj Dept. Member

viii. Director General, Fire Services Dept. Member

ix. Commissioner, Labour Dept. Member

x. Director, Factories Dept. Member

xi. EnC, Irrigation Dept. Member

xii. Member Secretary, APPCB Member

xiii. Director of Ground Water Dept. Member

xiv. Director, MA & UD Member

xv. Secretary to Chief Commissioner, Land Admin Member

xvi. Commissioner & IG, Stamps & Reg Dept. Member

xvii. Any other HoD/officer as and when required

1.3. Empowered Committee of Secretaries:

An Empowered Committee of Secretaries chaired by Chief Secretary to the Government and convened by Secretary Industries shall meet every month to monitor and review the following:

i. Performance of single desk system

ii. Policy issues relating to investment facilitation and project grounding

iii. Implementation of all important ongoing projects

iv. Screening of all mega project proposals

v. Scrutiny of all issues/proposals which may merit consideration of the SIPB

vi. Any other issue governing industrial environment proposed by Commissioner of Industries

The Empowered Committee shall subsume all functionalities of the SIPC and the latter will cease to exist.

Members of the empowered committee shall include:

i. Secretary, Finance

ii. Secretary, Environment, Forest, Science & Technology

iii. Secretary, Revenue (LA)

iv. Secretary, Revenue (CT)

v. Secretary, Employment & Labour

vi. Member Secretary, Pollution Control Board

vii. Secretary, Energy & Infrastructure

viii. Secretary, MA & UD

ix. VC and MD, APIIC

x. Secretary, Panchayati Raj

xi. Commissioner, Industries

Any other HoD/officer as and when required.

1.4. Grievance / Appeal:

In the event of an applicant being aggrieved by any order of the Bureau, he can make an application for review to the Empowered Committee.

2. District Level Clearance Mechanism

2.1. District Industries Promotion Committee: District Industries Promotion Committee (DIPC) chaired by the District Collector shall act as the Empowered Committee at the District Level. It shall provide approvals & clearances for setting up new industrial units and for expansion of existing industrial units in the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise sector in line with the threshold investment limits defined from time to time as per the Micro Small and Medium Enterprises Development Act, 2006. The District Collector will be authorized to issue specific clearances should the concerned department not provide clearance after following due process within stipulated time. The responsibility of any such clearance being provided by the District Collector due to delay on behalf of specific department shall lie with the HoD of that department. Industries and Commerce Department shall examine and ensure that enabling provisions are made in concerned Acts / Rules to empower District Collector accordingly. To ensure institutionalizing the timely approvals / clearance mechanism, DIPC shall meet once a fortnight on 2^nd and 15^th day of every month. In case if either 2^nd or 15^th day of any month is a holiday, the Committee shall meet on the next working day. In the absence of District Collector, Joint Collector of the district will chair the DIPC meetings.

2.2. Grievance / Appeal:

In the first instance all District level grievances will be referred to the Commissioner of Industries. In the event an applicant is aggrieved by the order of the Commissioner, he may make an application for review to the Empowered Committee.

3. Coverage of Approvals and Clearances

To start an industry a subset of 24 different clearances may be required. Of these 24, 13 approvals / clearances are necessary in the Pre-establishment stage and 11 approvals / clearances are necessary in the Pre-operation stage. List of these clearances are provided in Annexure I and Annexure II.

4. Measures to Simplify Process & Procedures

Simplification of process and procedures at the Competent Authorities and Nodal Agencies associated with processing applications as part of the Single Desk mechanism has been based on review of applicable laws & regulations governing process / compliances required to set up new industrial units or expanding existing units.

4.1. Spot Approvals: Spot approvals shall be given in case of clearances / approvals which require only a scrutiny of basic documents. They include Registration under Professional Tax, Registration of Shops and Establishments, Registration of establishments deploying contractual workmen / interstate migrant workmen among others.

4.2. Deemed Approval based on self-certification: If select approvals & clearances are not granted within stipulated timelines, deemed approval for the same shall be provided to applicants based on self-certification provided by them. They include Building Permission from Gram Panchayat, Factory Registration among others.

4.3. Assignment of Inspection to Private Technical Experts: Based on a review of applicable laws & regulations governing approvals & clearances required to set up new industrial units or expanding existing units, provisions have been identified in select regulations where inspections are permitted to be conducted by technically qualified experts in the private sector. They include Boiler Registration among others.

4.4. Parallel Processing of clearances: Based on a review of applicable laws & regulations governing approvals & clearances, all intra-approval dependencies have been dispensed with and parallel processing of all clearances has been introduced to expedite closure of application process.

4.5. Streamlined processes: An Information Technology enabled platform shall be implemented for accepting and electronically distributing applications to the respective Competent Authorities as well as tracking & monitoring the status of application processing.

Annexure I: Pre-Establishment Stage approvals/ clearances

1 Urban Development Authority

2 Directorate of Town & Country Planning

3 Urban Local Bodies

Annexure II: Pre-Operation Stage approvals/ clearances