Govt sets up single-window clearance to expedite aviation sector proposals

The civil aviation ministry has set up a single-window clearance mechanism to expedite various investment proposals in the domestic aviation industry.

"MoCA (Ministry of Civil Aviation) has an Investment Clearance Cell (ICC) for prompt assistance and clearance," the ministry said in a tweet on Saturday.

The setting up of the ICC was announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in 2020-2021 Union Budget in February this year, as per MoCA.

According to a ministry order of July 16, the link of which has been attached with the tweet, the cell was also set up following an order from theDepartment of Promotion of Industry and Trade (DPIT) on July 1 in this regard.

The 10-member ICC will be headed by Amber Dubey, joint secretary in the aviation ministry, according to the MoCA order.

The ICC has been mandated to serve as a single-window system for attracting investment and its terms of reference include accelerating investments, bringing projects to the Empowered Group of Secretaries (EGoS) which require special incentive, policy interventions, expeditious clearances and systematic references, among others, the MoCA order said.

The ICC will also identify projects and report to EGoS and maintain active contacts with investors and work with the states, duly adopting ways of on-boarding the states to make them a part of the institutional set-up, it said.

Besides, the ICC will also identify policy and regulatory issues that come in the way of investments and engage with potential investors to bring the proposal for consideration of EGoS, the order stated.

Of the rest nine members on board, five are from the aviation ministry, one each from Airports Authority of India and its cargo and logistics business subsidiary AIACLS, one from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and one to be co-opted by the chairman as per the requirements, it added.

The Indian aviation sector is hit severely by the coronavirus pandemic and economic downturn.

Ratings agency Icra expects India's GDP to contract by 9.5 per cent this fiscal on account of the localised lockdowns put in place by various state governments and rising cases of coronavirus infection.

India's COVID-19 cases surged to 10,38,716, while the death toll from the disease rose to 26,273 on Saturday, according to government data.