World Bank to review business ease

The Maharashtra government is all set to present its improvement on giving permissions as a part of ‘ease of doing business’ before the World Bank. It has reduced the period and lengthy procedures for seeking permissions to make it easier for investors to start their business in Mumbai. A World Bank team is expected to come to Mumbai on July 20, when it will review the progress in the ‘ease of doing business’.

Last year, the Delhi and Mumbai were ranked 53 and 47 respectively on the various business environment parameters. Over all, India ranked 130. The state government has tried its best to improve the business environment on parameters laid by the World Bank and hopes to score better.

“We have reduced the construction permissions to 60 days from the earlier period of a year. Any business can obtain an electricity connection within 15 days, while earlier it used to take around three months. The process of land registration has gone online. We have also opened up land records and put them online for public viewing. Intending to reduce tedious process of tax, a single form has been introduced for all taxes,” chief secretary Swadheen Kshatriya said.

There are a lot of departments involved in ease of doing business and the government has instructed that waiting periods be reduced. The state is also aiming to have a single-window system where investors can seek all permissions under one roof without approaching various government offices and departments.

The initiative taken by the government seeks to promote its ambitious Make in India campaign by encouraging foreign investment in the country.

In its efforts towards the initiative of the ease of doing business, the state government has scrapped five permissions required for setting up hotels. The scrapped licences include permission for food registration certificate, construction of swimming pool, place of public entertainment licence A and B and presentation licence.

The state government has also approved a proposal to set up a single-window system ‘Maitri Kaksha’ where investors can get all the permissions needed for setting up a business and Rs 13.36 crore has been sanctioned for this.