Ease of Doing Business
The Government of Gujarat has been proactively taking measures to promote the Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) in the State, to ensure a conducive business ecosystem for businesses to invest and operate. Gujarat has been consistently ranked as the ‘Top Achiever’ State in India by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Government of India in the last two editions of Business Reform Action Plan (BRAP) for its EoDB and Ease of Living (EoL) initiatives.
Gujarat is one of the first states in the country to develop a Single Window Portal – Investor Facilitation Portal (IFP). The Investor Facilitation Portal (IFP) acts as a one-stop solution for getting business approvals as well as incentives offered under State Policies/Schemes, thereby removing the requirement of physical intervention to any department. Over 200 business-centric approvals pertaining to 18 state departments are provided through a faceless system. The IFP is also one of the first portals to have been integrated with the National Single Window System (NSWS) of the DPIIT, Govt. of India. This enables investors to obtain state-level approvals through the NSWS.
The Government of Gujarat has also setup a robust institutional mechanism under the Gujarat Single Window Clearances Act, 2017 to provide timely approvals to businesses as well as provide resolution of grievances (Both offline & Online). District Level Facilitation Committee (DLFC), Single Window Facilitation Committee (SWFC) and State Level Facilitation Committee (SLFC) have been formed to provide timely approvals to businesses as well as to address suggestions on policy related changes, concerns of industries, infrastructure requirements, etc.
Gujarat is also a frontrunner in the implementation of Reducing Compliance Burden (RCB) exercise of DPIIT in terms of the total number of compliances minimized. The State Government has so far minimized over 2,900 compliances including business-centric compliances and citizen-centric compliances.
In Gujarat, after comprehensive review of State Acts/Rules, over 200 provisions have been decriminalized to boost entrepreneurship, encourage investments, and inculcate spirit of innovation. Decriminalization of offences also reduce the burden on judicial system as trivial cases can be settled with a penalty or through compounding measures.
The summary of the select best practices implemented in Gujarat are provided below
1. Abolishment of renewal for shops and establishment license:
The State government has removed the requirement of renewal of shops and establishment license under the Gujarat Shops & Establishment Act, 2019. So one-time registration is the only requirement which remains valid for the lifetime. The requirement of obtaining trade license is also eliminated, and no additional license under the Gujarat Provincial Municipal Corporation Act, 1949 is required.
2. Gujarat MSMEs (Facilitation of Establishment and Operation) Act, 2019:
As part of the Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) initiatives, the Gujarat government have the motto of “First Production then Permission”. Gujarat MSMEs Act 2019 exempts businesses from obtaining State approvals for a period of three years and additional 6 months to comply with them. It helps MSMEs to focus on production and operate smoothly during inception phase of the business.
3. GST Seva Kendra:
Gujarat is the first state to start GST Seva Kendra (GSK) for quick registration, simplifying the compliance, dedicated time slot to taxpayer, and Bio-metric based Aadhar Authentication at preferred time of taxpayer. Reform benefitted over 25,000 business for registration as time taken for an application has been reduced from 25-30 days to 6-7 days. The process of getting new GSTIN becomes tamperproof, speedy and transparent. Easy process flow and convenient arrangements at GSK GST made registration faster and compliance easier.
4. Self-Certification:
Gujarat has introduced self-certification scheme for industries which is applicable across 5 labour Acts/Rules. This allows industries to obtain exemption from inspection for a period of 5 years by providing self-certification for various compliances under respective Act/Rules. This results in exemption from over 800 compliances through the self-certification scheme.
5. Digitization of land records:
The Gujarat government has digitized over 8 crore handwritten land records and 2.43 crore handwritten mutation entries in Record of Rights. This has helped in providing online access to 36 services (e.g., land records, 7/12 extract) through the Integrated Online Revenue Applications (iORA).
6. Rationalization in Professional Tax Slab:
Gujarat has recently rationalized the professional tax slabs from three slabs to a single slab of earning of Rs. 12,000 or more per month and a flat tax rate of Rs. 200 per month. Earlier, professional tax was applicable on earning of Rs. 6,000 onwards. This reform has reduced the burden of complying with 16 compliances under the Gujarat State Tax on Professions, Trades, Callings and Employments Act, 1976. SMEs, small traders, contractors and professionals are benefitted by this reform.
7. Implementation of PM Gati Shakti Master Plan:
Gujarat is a leading State for implementation of PM Gati Shakti Plan. Over 50 approvals across 12 State Departments have been developed and integrated with State Single Window System. It provides faster and transparent business approvals and encourage faceless governance ecosystem.
8. GIS Land Bank:
Gujarat has developed a GIS (Geographical Information System) based Land Bank portal enables users to access available industrial land parcels of over 7,500 hectares across the State with a single click. Investors can also access details of supporting infrastructure like power, water, natural gas, logistics, training institutes etc. surrounding these land parcels.
The State Government is proactively working towards expanding the scope of the State Single Window System by integrating new services with it including integration of the PM Gati Shakti portal. The State will continue to take measures to reduce the compliance burden on businesses and ensure Gujarat remains one of the most business friendly States in India.