As many as 29 industrial projects having an investment of ₹3,604.70 crore were cleared by the government under the Kerala State Single Window Clearance Board (KSSWCB) within a 30-day deadline over four years.
Constituted under the Kerala Industrial Single Window Clearance Boards and Industrial Township Area Development Act, 1999, KSSWCB was originally empowered to give go-ahead to any industrial project with an investment layout of ₹15 crore and above within 45 days by facilitating clearances from various government departments.
This Act was amended by the Kerala Investment Promotion and Facilitation Act, 2018, which reduced the deadline for giving clearances from 45 to 30 days. KSSWCB, chaired by the Chief Secretary, has held 12 meetings since June 2016.
‘Promising sectors’
“Kerala has considerably improved the ease of doing business, through a string of reform-oriented legislations. These, calibrated with the government’s policy initiatives, have helped the State attract investments in a range of highly promising sectors,” said S. Harikishore, Managing Director, Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC).
The projects that received clearances included expansion of the factory unit for manufacturing tyres of PTL Enterprises Ltd. (₹250 crore), 1,500-bed multispecialty hospital of Believer’s Church Medical College Hospital (₹539 crore), expansion of hospital by KIMS Health care Management (₹210 crore), commercial project by Prestige Group (₹750 crore), and expansion of hospital by Lakeshore Hospital and Research Centre Ltd. (₹363.50 crore).
It is envisaged that 34,786 employment opportunities have been created by these projects, which covered sectors such as health care, hospitality, food processing, mining, manufacturing, and textiles.