IPR 2015 likely to be finalised in two months

The state government hopes to finalise its Industrial Policy Resolution (IPR), 2015 within a couple of months.

"We are giving final touches to the Draft IPR, 2015. The new IPR will mainly focus on easing business procedures for investors," said a government official.

A core committee on IPR 2015 headed by state chief secretary G C Pati met today to deliberate on various provisions of the policy and chart a roadmap for its finalisation and subsequent implementation.

The IPR aims at a multi-pronged approach for industrial promotion by providing infrastructure support, institutional support and pre and post production incentives.

It strives to strengthen the nodal agency for investment promotion - Industrial Promotion & Investment Corporation of Odisha Ltd (Ipicol) - to function as an effective one stop shop for investors.

Ipicol would develop and implement a web-based system to facilitate investment clearances in a time bound manner. There will also be a facility for e-filing of combined application form (CAF) by investors, e-payment of processing fees and virtual single window interface between investors and different clearance authorities. The business friendly steps are to be put in place by the end of 2015-16, according to the draft IPR, 2015.

Also, Ipicol would set up a GIS based comprehensive industrial data bank by engaging a professional agency.

Six months after the IPR 2015 comes into force, the industries department would initiate deployment of a web enabled platform for facilitating all statutory approvals applied through CAF.

The draft IPR says, the existing single window clearance mechanism will be made more effective so that most of the clearances are accorded at the time of approval of projects.

Investors with project investment of up to Rs 10 crore would submit their grievances, if any to the directorate of industries. For investors whose investment exceeds Rs 10 crore but is less than Rs 100 crore, the issues would be addressed by an industry facilitation committee chaired by the industries secretary.

The State Level Project Monitoring Group (SPMG) and the Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure (CCI)'s Project Monitoring Group (PMG) would review and monitor projects with investments in the range of Rs 100-1,000 crore.

The draft IPR has identified various focus sectors for the next five years. These are auto & auto components, downstream and ancillary industries, agro and food processing, IT and ESDM (electronic system design & manufacturing), tourism, civil aviation and manufacturing in aviation, pharma, handicrafts and textiles and petroleum & petro chemicals.

The IPR aims to encourage linkage between MSME (micro, small & medium enterprises) and large industries and make focused efforts for development of ancillary and downstream industries.