After a dismal performance for over seven decades in the industrialization sector, Jammu and Kashmir has entered into a new age of developmental trajectory with the integration of ‘Single Clearance Window Portal’ with the National Single Window System (NSWS).
The step has been dubbed ‘as a giant leap in Ease of Doing Business (EoDB)’ where the UT has been integrated to facilitate investment in the region.
The launch of single clearance window portal shows the commitment of the government led by Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha to strengthening the industrial ecosystem in a manner that percolates the benefits to all sections of the society in Jammu-Kashmir.
J&K was the first among the Union Territory to be integrated with NSWS, a 2020 budgetary announcement of the Government of India, is a digital platform for the investors to get approvals for their projects in online mode. While 130 industrial services have been made online on a single-window system, over 160 more services would be integrated this year.
The platform was soft-launched in September 2021 by the Union Minister for Commerce and Industry, Textiles and Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Shri Piyush Goyal.
Through this window portal, the J&K is being linked into a big network of partnerships that include both domestic and foreign companies thus making room for the region to be more competitive.
With the launch of the new Industrial Development Scheme, government policies have evolved to make Jammu and Kashmir more competitive and more lucrative for industries and service enterprises.
The reforms being introduced in the UT are bringing in more investments and in the year 2021 alone, J&K has received Rs 70,000 crore of investments as the key driving factors for these investments is the industrial development schemes.
To attract robust investments, the Department of Industries and Commerce is the nodal agency in implementing the industrial reforms in the Union Territory. The department will supervise the compliance of Business Reforms Action Plan, 2022 and Regulatory Compliance Burden, 2022.
Back in January 2021, the Jammu and Kashmir administration announced a new industrial developmental scheme (IDS) with a total outlay of Rs 28,400 crore to encourage new investment and to take industrial development to the block level.
NSWS is linked with India Industrial Land Bank (IILB), which hosts 45 industrial parks of J&K, and this will help investors discover available land parcels in J&K.
In simple terms, the NSWS will eliminate the need for investors to visit multiple platforms/offices to gather information and obtain clearances from different stakeholders.
As many as 20 ministries/departments have been integrated on NSWS, including Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, and Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, amongst others. Currently, 142 central approvals can be applied through the NSWS portal.