Make in India? Only 20% new enterprises have "used" single window clearance, says Govt of India report

A new Government of India report has regretted that just about 20% of enterprises that started operations after Narendra Modi took over as India’s Prime Minister in 2014 have used the “single window system”, set up by different states to get all types of clearances, ranging from land and environment, to labour and power, to set-up their business.
Worse, the just-released report adds, only 41% of the experts interviewed admitted they were aware of the “process” of single window system, commenting, on the whole, the “awareness among the enterprises” about it was found to be “low, pointing to either incomplete implementation or insufficient awareness of the process.”
Calling single window system to “part of the checklist of 98 reforms agreed upon by state governments” under Modi’s ambitious Make in India initiative, the report says that its process “mandates that all approvals required by an enterprise to set up a business be routed under one common application window.”
Pointing towards variation in awareness about single window across states, ranging from 41% enterprises in Andhra Pradesh, 33% in Rajasthan, and 32% in Gujarat, to just about 9% in Maharashtra, the report says, interestingly, far more number of enterprises, about 64%, and 74% experts said they knew about the different environment categories for which clearances to begin a new enterprise are to be obtained.
Titled “Ease of Doing Business: An Enterprise Survey of Indian States”, the report is based on a survey of 3,326 manufacturing enterprises, five experts each from the 15 largest states in terms of number of enterprises, and 25 industry associations from the 19 largest states. It has been jointly prepared by Niti Aayog and Infrastructure Development Finance Company (IDFC), Mumbai.

The highest awareness on environmental categories, says the report, is among the enterprises in Kerala (89%), followed by Sikkim (86%) and in Andhra Pradesh (85%), adding, the enterprises showing lowest awareness on this were from Bihar (33%), Odisha (22%), and Manipur (4%).
The report finds that that 50% of the medium-sized enterprises have taken up to 120 days to set up a business, though at the “upper end”, it enterprises have taken close to 240 days. “The average (i.e., mean) time taken to set up a business in India was 118 days with a wide variation across states”, it adds.
“It took, on average, 63 days to set up a business in Tamil Nadu and 67 days in Andhra Pradesh whereas for Kerala and Assam, firms took 214 days and 248 days respectively” the report says, adding, “The top 25% of took between 150 and 320 days for getting land allotted from the government.”
“The average time taken to get all construction related approvals was around 75 days. Firms reported longest time taken in Karnataka (140 days), Uttarakhand (136 days), and Kerala (135 days) and the shortest time taken in Himachal Pradesh (8 days)”, the report says.
As for environment related approvals and renewals ranges, the report says, it “takes on average 91 days for getting environmental clearances and on average 71 days for renewing these clearances”, with Uttar Pradesh and Kerala on an average taking 121 days, while 25 days in Chhattisgarh.
The report comments, “According to the World Bank’s 2017 Doing Business report, the time taken for getting construction permits was 190 days”, with India ranking “poorly (185 out of 187 countries) in this area”, adding, “It appears that the actual experience of enterprises is better than the survey results of the World Bank.”
The report claims that, in the period after Modi came to power, 38% of the enterprises believed that the regulatory environment for setting up a business had improved, another 38% said it had stayed the same while 21% said it had worsened.

Comments

Despite Hindutva hold claim, 18% Hindus in US don't want to be identified with Hinduism!

Scanning through news items on the Google News app on my mobile — which is what I do almost every morning — I came across a story published on India.com, which I found somewhat misleading. The headline said, "Muslim population drops significantly in THIS country as over 25% Muslims leave Islam due to…, the country is…"

Adani Group a key player in Indo-Israel defence cooperation: Tel Aviv daily

Said to be one of the most influential Israeli dailies, "Haaretz" (literally: News of the Land) has identified the Adani Group—known to be close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi—as one of the key Indian business houses engaged in defence cooperation with Israel. Pointing out that India supplied the Israeli military with Hermes 900 drones, the daily reported that this advanced aerial vehicle came off “the production line in a factory set up in Hyderabad, as part of the cooperation between the Israeli Elbit and India's Adani Group.”

Tracking a lost link: Soviet-era legacy of Gujarati translator Atul Sawani

The other day, I received a message from a well-known activist, Raju Dipti, who runs an NGO called Jeevan Teerth in Koba village, near Gujarat’s capital, Gandhinagar. He was seeking the contact information of Atul Sawani, a translator of Russian books—mainly political and economic—into Gujarati for Progress Publishers during the Soviet era. He wanted to collect and hand over scanned soft copies, or if possible, hard copies, of Soviet books translated into Gujarati to Arvind Gupta, who currently lives in Pune and is undertaking the herculean task of collecting and making public soft copies of Soviet books that are no longer available in the market, both in English and Indian languages.

Beyond Indus water treaty suspension: A 'nationalist' push despite harsh climate realities

The suspension of the Indus Water Treaty (IWT) appears to have pushed the middle classes, at least in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state, Gujarat, further towards what the powers-that-be would consider—a "positive" direction. As usual, during my morning walk, I tried talking with a neighbour about what impact it would have. Ignoring what is widely considered a "security lapse," this person, who had just returned after buying milk, compared the Modi move with Trump.

Why's Australian crackdown rattling Indian students? Whopping 25% fake visa applications

This is what happened several months ago. A teenager living in the housing society where I reside was sent to Australia to study at a university in Sydney with much fanfare. The parents, whom I often met as part of a group, would tell us how easily the boy got his admission with the help of "some well-meaning friends," adding that they had obtained an education loan to ensure he could study at a graduate school.

Irrational? Basis for fear among Hindus about being 'swamped' by Muslims

I was amused while reading an article titled "Ham Paanch, Hamare Pachees", shared on Facebook, by well-known policy analyst Mohan Guruswamy, an alumnus of the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, and the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University. Guruswamy, who has also worked as an advisor to the Finance Minister with the rank of Secretary to the Government of India, seeks to probe, as he himself states, "the supposed Muslim attitude to family planning"—a theme that was invoked by Narendra Modi as Gujarat Chief Minister ahead of the December 2002 assembly polls.

A conman, a demolition man: How 'prominent' scribes are defending Pritish Nandy

How to defend Pritish Nandy? That’s the big question some of his so-called fans seem to ponder, especially amidst sharp criticism of his alleged insensitivity during his journalistic career. One such incident involved the theft and publication of the birth certificate of Masaba Gupta, daughter of actor Neena Gupta, in the Illustrated Weekly of India, which Nandy was editing at the time. He reportedly did this to uncover the identity of Masaba’s father.

Punishing senior citizens? Flipkart, Shopsy stop Cash on Delivery in Ahmedabad!

The other day, someone close to me attempted to order some goodies on Flipkart and its subsidiary Shopsy. After preparing a long list of items, this person, as usual, opted for the Cash on Delivery (popularly known as COD) option, as this senior citizen isn't very familiar with online prepaid payment methods like UPI, credit or debit cards, or online bank transfers through websites. In fact, she is hesitant to make online payments, fearing, "I may make a mistake," she explained, adding, "I read a lot about online frauds, so I always choose COD as it's safe. I have no knowledge of how to prepay online."

Gujarat slips in India Justice Report 2025: From model state to mid-table performer

Overall ranking in IJR reports The latest India Justice Report (IJR), prepared by legal experts with the backing of several civil society organisations and aimed at ranking the capacity of states to deliver justice, has found Gujarat—considered by India's rulers as a model state for others to follow—slipping to the 11th position from fourth in 2022.

Search This Blog