Telangana govt to announce industrial policy on Thursday

Promises tax incentives, infrastructure facilities

The Telangana government is planning to announce its much-awaited industrial policy in the state legislative Assembly on Thursday.

The policy will have several components, including the offer of  tax incentives and infrastructure facilities for setting up industrial units. “All these commitments would come along with the fixed timelines whereas in the past  there were uncertainties and delays in implementing such policy incentives,” a senior government official told Business Standard.

The state Cabinet had approved the industrial policy on Sunday but it had not made it public for the purpose of announcing it on the floor of the House coinciding with the discussion on the budgetary demand related to the industries department, which is coming up tomorrow.

Chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao earlier said his government was working on the best possible industrial policy to attract investments as job creation through rapid industrialisation was one of the topmost priorities. He has also promised to eliminate delays and corruption in the government with regard to clearances.

As a part of this commitment, the state government on Tuesday introduced a Bill —Telangana State Industrial Project Approval And Self Certification System (TS-iPASS) Act, 2014 — which mandates officials to issue all the clearances required to set up an industry within 30 days at a single-point clearance system.

The Bill also seeks to create a Telangana State-wide Investment  Facilitation Board (T-SWIFT) at the state-level to be chaired by the chief secretary to deal with clearances for mega projects. District-level committees will clear projects other than mega projects under a similar system.

“The T-SWIFT Board will pursue clearances with departments through the nodal officer. The approvals arranged through the T-SWIFT Board shall be final and binding on the departments,” the Bill said. The government also introduced a provision of ‘Right To Clearances under TS-iPASS’ to enable the applicant to know the reasons for the delay besides imposing penalties on the designated officers of the competent authority.

According to the Bill, the company officials will also be liable for punishment if they fail to comply with the laws.

“We tried to implement the single-window clearance system through executive actions in the past but failed as the existing laws often come in the way. To overcome this problem, the government is now seeking to make it an Act of legislature,” an industry department official said.