Govt to unveil single-window system for industrial clearances: Goyal

The minister also said that the government was working on creating a land bank, for which six states have already given their consent. He said that the potential investors would then be able to locate and identify the land banks from their distant offices and finalise the location of industries, without frequently having to visit the offices of land-owning agencies.

On the issue of further easing and speeding up the process of approvals for industry and investments, Goyal referred to the recent decisions by the Union Cabinet to set up an empowered group of secretaries led by the cabinet secretary to take decisions on various industrial schemes and projects. He also said that nodal officers were appointed in all central departments and project development cells were being set up to help in the development of a strong pipeline of investible projects in coordination between the central and state governments.

Goyal said the government had initially identified 12 industrial sectors to focus upon, and the same had been expanded to 20. This would help in scaling up investment, and leveraging the competitive advantages of the country. These sectors include standard as well as special furniture, air-conditioners, leather, footwear, agro-chemicals, ready to eat food, steel, aluminium, copper, textiles, electric vehicles (EVs), automotive, TV set-top boxes, CCTVs, sports goods, manufacture of ethanol manufacture and other bio-fuels and toys.

He said that Aatmanirbhar Bharat did not imply that India was closing the doors to the world but was rather widening the doors for opportunities and investment, with a focus on improving the quality of India made products and increasing the economies of scale. This would help the country to deal with the world from a position of strength, become more competitive, and imbibe the best technology and equipment. The industry should assimilate artificial intelligence, data analytics, robotic and all other best practices.

He emphasised that enhanced use of technology did not imply job losses as the jump in production in the country would lead to the creation of more jobs.

The minister said that a conducive environment to attract foreign investment would also be created in the health and education sectors. He said that investors would be extended full support in terms of policies, processes and regulations in a transparent, open and equitable manner. Responding to concerns of potential investors, Goyal said the Baba Kalyani Report on special economic zones (SEZs) was under consideration by the commerce ministry. On the subject of labour reform issues, Goyal said that a balance needed to be worked out to uphold the interests of both workers and investors.