Odisha to accord 15 approvals online to do business easily

State CM Naveen Patnaik to launch a portal 'e-biz' that aims to minimise physical interfaces, in Mumbai on Feb 14

To further ease the procedural bottlenecks in setting up of business in the state, the Odisha government is shortly going to launch a portal ‘e-biz’ with an aim to minimise physical interfaces and give approvals online to the investors.

“We will be the first state in the country where 15 services required by the entrepreneurs can be applied and the applications disposed of online. The services relate to water resources, commercial taxes, pollution control board consent for which  fees can be paid and the approvals received online. The number of services may go up”, said Sanjiv Chopra, state industries secretary and chairman and managing director of Industrial Promotion & Investment Corporation of Odisha Ltd (Ipicol) at  a seminar on ‘ Opportunities and Challenges for SMEs’ organized by  Business Standard in association with Utkal Chamber of Commerce and Industry (UCCI), the apex industry body of  Odisha.

e-biz will be launched by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on February 14 at Mumbai, he added.

Similarly, any industrial unit  inside and outside the Idco (Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation) industrial estates with an investment of more than Rs one crore and subject to inspections by multiple authorities will be covered under the Central Inspection Framework where by all the inspectors will go to a factory on one particular day after giving prior notice, Chopra said.

It may be noted that Odisha government is taking conscious steps to improve its ranking in the on 'Ease of Doing Business' Index. Odisha was ranked seventh  in a recent World Bank report on 'Ease of Doing Business’ and aims to be among the top three states.

The Odisha government has already set up a special entity to fast track approvals for investment projects at Ipicol. The new entity christened State Level Facilitation Cell (SLFC) is  mandated to clear investment proposals in 15-30 days.   

The SLFC monitors the general and special conditions of approved project proposals and facilitates timely implementation of projects. The SLFC consists of members from Idco, Odisha Power Transmission Corporation Ltd (OPTCL), State Pollution Control Board (SPCB), directorate of factories and boilers, water resources department on a full-time basis.

For any change of post allotment matter like change in the name and style, product, constitution of the firm etc. located in industrial estates, Idco has introduced the Automated Post Allotment Application (APAA) with a simplified procedure and provision for the deemed approval.

Earlier, Idco was following a manual process for which files were required to be sent from one department to other for getting approvals.