The State Industries Department will shortly roll out an intelligent software that facilitates the vetting of industrial proposals in real time, thus resolving industrialists’ long-standing complaint over the inordinate delay in processing their proposals.
Additional Chief Secretary Paul Antony made a fleeting mention about the technological intervention in his concluding remarks at the end of an interactive session held here on Friday to discuss the government’s draft industrial and commercial policy.
Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) managing director M. Beena said the software was likely to be ready within three months and will be first deployed in urban local bodies. “It will be so designed that only those proposals which will comply with existing rules and regulations already fed into the software alone will be approved. The software would come in handy for various departments such as Town Planning and Factories and Boilers,” she said.
Earlier, in his opening remarks, KSIDC chairman Christy Fernandez urged the government, industrialists, and local bodies to create an ideal ecosystem to promote industries in the State. This was followed by a presentation on the salient features of the draft industrial policy by Ms. Beena.
A provision in the draft policy to put an end to arbitrary issue of stop memo and introduction of a certification system by a technical officer from the sector concerned in a time-bound manner proved to be very popular with participating entrepreneurs and industrialists. Another provision to increase the validity of licences and renewals by five years also impressed them.
Industrialists sought a fair exit policy for those running industries for a long period. Xavier Thomas, a representative of the Kerala State Small Industries Association from Kottayam, sought a revival of defunct public sector enterprises or to utilise their land for new industries.
Participants also raised their hardships over the rollout of Goods and Services Tax and sought government intervention to overcome them. They also sought an annual review meeting to take stock of the implementation of the industrial policy.
Industries and Commerce Director K.N. Satheesh, Kinfra managing director K.A. Santhoshkumar, Kerala Bureau of Industrial Promotion CEO V. Rajagopal were among those present.