Having got the seventh position in the ‘Ease of doing Business’ indices among the States earlier, Odisha now targets to achieve the third position in next assessment to be done by the World Bank and the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Government of India.
A high level review meeting to this effect was held under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary Aditya Parsad Padhi on Thursday, wherein Principal Secretary Industry Sanjeeb Chopra presented the updates for discussion. Reviewing the progress, Chief Secretary Padhi directed concerned departments to prioritise implementation of the reforms as departmental agenda andachieve the set targets by July 30.
Principal Secretary Chopra said that the reforms already implemented by July 30 would be taken to consideration in coming assessment of Indian States.
Chief Secretary Padhi directed the departments to upload the reforms implemented in their respective departmental websites in a prominent and user friendly manner so that investors can easily access and use it while complying with various statutory clearances and certificates.
Padhi also advised to upload the timelines decided for various services to be provided by the concerned department in ease of doingbusiness.
The Chief Secretary further directed to undertake intensive awareness building activities on the reform measures among the down line executing officials and the potential investors. The departments were advised to segregate and categorise various points applicable for different types of industries and communicate with them accordingly through e-mail, mass media and SMS modes.
It was decided that all the concerned departments would take up proactive steps to diffuse information about reform initiatives among the investors and first generation entrepreneurs.
Replying to a media query after the meeting, Principal Secretary Chopra said, “We are easing the process of business for all categories of industries with special focus on small and medium scale industries as these are likely to create more employment.”
Available data show, a total of 340 reform points were suggested for making the process of doing business more facilitative and proactive. Out of these 30 points were found ‘not applicable’ for Odisha. So far, around 258 action points have been complied which count for around 83 per cent of compliance.
The compliances to reform agenda by the departments varied from 46 to 100 per cent. The Department of Water
Resources recorded 100 per cent compliance to reform agenda by June 16. Similarly, the compliance of the departments like Commercial
Taxes, Energy, labour and Employees State Insurance, Industries and Pollution Control Board varied from 82 to 98 per cent. The overall compliance was around 83 per cent.
It may be pertinent here to mention that recently one of the World Bank assessments has ranked Bhubaneswar as third best city in India to do the business. This has been also reflected in the latest mobile app of ‘Odisha
New Opportunities’ launched by the State Industries Department. It was decided in the meeting that State updates would be uploaded regularly in the central web portal on ease of doing business for reflecting Odisha’s competitive position at the national level.