Punjab Cabinet will meet on Monday to approve the much-awaited State Industrial Policy to come out with a mechanism for providing a well-oiled system to the entrepreneurs setting up facilities in the State.
The Industrial Policy, after many delays and several brush-ups, would finally be placed before the Cabinet in the morning, followed by its announcement in the afternoon.
Offering a slew of incentives, including some exemption from value added tax (VAT), central sales tax (CST), electricity duty, among others, the policy is eyeing investment of Rs 1 lakh crore.
Depending upon the scale of investments, the Punjab Government proposed to offer incentives, including 40 to 80 per cent exemption in VAT, up to 75 per cent exemption in CST and almost 100 per cent exemption in electricity duty. Besides, some more exemptions in other fees and charges are expected to be given.
The new policy also aimed at giving faster clearance to new industrial projects with the setting up of single window clearance. “Special care has been taken to address the problem of unnecessary delays in clearing projects which remained stuck for months. We are creating a provision for State and district facilitation centres,” said Industries Minister Anil Joshi.
Besides, the policy would also give an industry-friendly environment to the existing, as well as upcoming industrial projects by ensuring them to provide every basic facility. However, taking due care of the increasing pollution in the state, especially because of the industrial waste, the new Industrial Policy has also laid down a condition for all industrial units to have a common effluent treatment plant.
Earlier, the SAD-BJP Government had announced an Industrial Policy in 2009 that failed to bring out any favourable response from the Industries owing to the absence of any solution to projects getting delayed due to slow approvals.
As per the policy, the industrial projects would be divided into slabs depending upon the quantum of investments which will be eligible for availing incentives. Projects which will qualify for incentives will have investment between Rs 1 to Rs 10 crore, Rs 10-25 crore, Rs 25-100 crore, Rs 100-500 crore and over Rs 500 crore.
The policy also has a provision to ensure that the project was completed in a time-bound manner so that the investment actually flowed into the State.
For overall industrial growth, the policy has divided the entire State into two broad zones — border and kandi areas in one zone, while the remaining area forms the other zone.
“Border and Kandi areas need special care for attracting investments there. Thus, the industrial units coming up in these areas would be given special incentives. Also, the land would be given at comparatively lower prices,” added Joshi.
Soon after taking over the reigns of beleaguered industry department, Joshi had announced to bring an all-encompassing industrial policy for providing better industrial environment in the state. He also maintained that the state would also take into consideration the industrial policies of other states, including the neighbouring Himachal Pradesh, and Gujarat.
“The policy is a result of eight months of discussions on different aspects, taking inputs from industry, in particular,” stated Joshi. The State Government has all along been blaming special concessions to the neighbouring hill states for the poor industrial development in Punjab.