The Cabinet here on Thursday decided to ask the Governor to promulgate an ordinance — the Kerala Investment Promotion and Facilitation Act, 2017 — so as to ensure speedy approvals from various government departments for setting up industries in the State.
This is part of a move to accelerate the ease of doing business in the State. The Act has been formulated by amending seven existing laws in Kerala: the Kerala Panchayat Raj Act, Kerala Municipality Act, Kerala Groundwater Control Act, Kerala Lifts and Escalators Act, Kerala Shops and Commercial Establishments Act, Kerala Headload Workers Act, and the Kerala Single Window Clearance Boards and Industrial Township Development Act. The last date for amending relevant regulations for upping Kerala’s rank in ease of doing business is October 31, 2017, a press note here said.
Once the amendments are uploaded on the websites of the departments concerned, the changes would be reported to the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion of the Central Government. It would be on the basis of these changes that the department would rework Kerala’s rank in ease of doing business. The existing rank for Kerala is 20.
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Steps are being taken to fashion a single application form for getting industrial licence and an online portal, Swift, to upload the same. Efforts are also on to put in place an intelligent software for getting building licence in a speedy manner.