Common application form for Karnataka investors

BENGALURU: The Single Window Agency (SWA) of the Karnataka Udyog Mitra for potential investors to get the requisite clearances will be replaced with a Common Application Form (CAF) by February 1.
The SWA, launched a couple of years ago by the state commerce and industries department, to cut red tape regarding clearances of investment proposals, has not served the purpose. Facing competition from neighbours Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, which have been aggressively wooing investors, Karnataka has decided to give the SWA a makeover.
“THE CAF will require an investor to submit a single application regarding clearances on land acquisition, power, water, labour, environment and other related issues for the proposal. This is an improvement on the SWA,’’ additional chief secretary (commerce and industries) K Ratna Prabha told STOI. Prabha said the Karnataka Udyog Mitra obtained sanctions from 10 departments to launch the CAF which included the labour, energy and water agencies. The revenue department, which handles land conversion and acquisition, hasn’t given its consent yet.
Along with efforts to clear the hurdles for new industries, Prabha said transparency envisaged in the new industrial policy for 2014-19 would be implemented with availability of land and its price for setting up projects going online. The new industrial policy unveiled in September last, aims to attract investment of up to Rs 5 lakh crore and create around 15 lakh jobs in the state.
Deemed status: The industries department is also working on according ‘deemed approval’, which is different from CAF. A deemed approval means that if a project doesn’t get approval from a government agency within the period stipulated, then it’s deemed to be approved. “It’s still being worked out as observations from government departments have been sought as sometimes deemed approval would lead to problems like power not being available for a proposal which has been cleared,’’ Prabha said.
While Andhra Pradesh is yet to implement the deemed approval, Telangana has gone ahead with it, but is facing glitches such as clearances pertaining to power. The good thing is that it cuts down corruption as a file won’t get held up in a department because it wasn’t attended to, she added.
: The Single Window Agency (SWA) of the Karnataka Udyog Mitra for potential investors to get the requisite clearances will be replaced with a Common Application Form (CAF) by February 1.
The SWA, launched a couple of years ago by the state commerce and industries department, to cut red tape regarding clearances of investment proposals, has not served the purpose. Facing competition from neighbours Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, which have been aggressively wooing investors, Karnataka has decided to give the SWA a makeover.
“THE CAF will require an investor to submit a single application regarding clearances on land acquisition, power, water, labour, environment and other related issues for the proposal. This is an improvement on the SWA,’’ additional chief secretary (commerce and industries) K Ratna Prabha told STOI. Prabha said the Karnataka Udyog Mitra obtained sanctions from 10 departments to launch the CAF which included the labour, energy and water agencies. The revenue department, which handles land conversion and acquisition, hasn’t given its consent yet.
Along with efforts to clear the hurdles for new industries, Prabha said transparency envisaged in the new industrial policy for 2014-19 would be implemented with availability of land and its price for setting up projects going online. The new industrial policy unveiled in September last, aims to attract investment of up to Rs 5 lakh crore and create around 15 lakh jobs in the state.
Deemed status: The industries department is also working on according ‘deemed approval’, which is different from CAF. A deemed approval means that if a project doesn’t get approval from a government agency within the period stipulated, then it’s deemed to be approved. “It’s still being worked out as observations from government departments have been sought as sometimes deemed approval would lead to problems like power not being available for a proposal which has been cleared,’’ Prabha said.
While Andhra Pradesh is yet to implement the deemed approval, Telangana has gone ahead with it, but is facing glitches such as clearances pertaining to power. The good thing is that it cuts down corruption as a file won’t get held up in a department because it wasn’t attended to, she added.: The Single Window Agency (SWA) of the Karnataka Udyog Mitra for potential investors to get the requisite clearances will be replaced with a Common Application Form (CAF) by February 1.
The SWA, launched a couple of years ago by the state commerce and industries department, to cut red tape regarding clearances of investment proposals, has not served the purpose. Facing competition from neighbours Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, which have been aggressively wooing investors, Karnataka has decided to give the SWA a makeover.
“THE CAF will require an investor to submit a single application regarding clearances on land acquisition, power, water, labour, environment and other related issues for the proposal. This is an improvement on the SWA,’’ additional chief secretary (commerce and industries) K Ratna Prabha told STOI.
Prabha said the Karnataka Udyog Mitra obtained sanctions from 10 departments to launch the CAF which included the labour, energy and water agencies. The revenue department, which handles land conversion and acquisition, hasn’t given its consent yet.
Along with efforts to clear the hurdles for new industries, Prabha said transparency envisaged in the new industrial policy for 2014-19 would be implemented with availability of land and its price for setting up projects going online. The new industrial policy unveiled in September last, aims to attract investment of up to Rs 5 lakh crore and create around 15 lakh jobs in the state.
Deemed status: The industries department is also working on according ‘deemed approval’, which is different from CAF. A deemed approval means that if a project doesn’t get approval from a government agency within the period stipulated, then it’s deemed to be approved. “It’s still being worked out as observations from government departments have been sought as sometimes deemed approval would lead to problems like power not being available for a proposal which has been cleared,’’ Prabha said.
While Andhra Pradesh is yet to implement the deemed approval, Telangana has gone ahead with it, but is facing glitches such as clearances pertaining to power. The good thing is that it cuts down corruption as a file won’t get held up in a department because it wasn’t attended to, she added.