20-Jan-2021: Launch of Regulatory Compliance Portal to minimize Regulatory Compliance Burden for Businesses and Citizens
India’s commitment to reforms is evident from the width and scale of reforms undertaken at pan- India level since 2014 under the visionary leadership of Hon. Prime Minister. This is reflected in the meteoric rise of India’s rank in World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Report from 142nd in 2014 to 63rd in 2019.
In order to translate the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan into a reality, the next generation of reforms relating to minimizing regulatory burden on businesses and citizens are being taken up by Central Ministries and States/UTs on a mission mode. Making Government to Business and Government to Citizen interfaces online, transparent and time bound are among the key priorities of the Government of India.
Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce and Industry has been directed by Cabinet Secretary to act as the nodal department for coordinating the exercise of minimizing regulatory compliance burden for citizens and businesses. A systematic exercise across Central Ministries/Departments and States/UTs is being undertaken by DPIIT to eliminate/reduce compliances which have an adverse impact on time and cost of businesses.
A major initiative in this regard is the launch of Regulatory Compliance Portal by DPIIT on 1stJanuary 2021. The objective of this portal is to act as a bridge between citizens, industries and the Government in order to minimize burdensome compliances. It will also act as a first-of-its-kind central online repository of all Central and State-level compliances.
All Central Ministries/Departments and States/UTs would examine laws/regulations/rules under their purview and implement an Action Plan to rationalize and simplify all the processes and remove burdensome compliances, decriminalize laws and repeal redundant Acts. These details would be captured and tracked on the Regulatory Compliance Portal. Industry stakeholders from Trade bodies such as CII, FICCI and ASSOCHAM would also be able to submit compliances and proposed recommendations. This will be assessed by concerned Government authorities and suitable action would be undertaken to minimize the regulatory compliance burden.
Performance of activities on this portal would be closely reviewed by the senior Government officers. Cabinet Secretary would have real-time comprehensive view of all compliances and status of all requests raised across Central Ministries/Departments and States/UTs. Customized reports of action taken by each Ministry/Department and State/UT also gets generated for monitoring and evaluation.
The Regulatory Compliance Portal will be instrumental in achieving the vision of a truly Atmanirbhar Bharat and help usher ease of doing business for industry and ease of living for citizens.
DPIIT has conducted 21 training sessions from 04.01.2021 to 14.01.2021 for all ministries and states to familiarize them with Regulatory Compliance Portal. Additional 12 training sessions are also underway from 18.01.2021 to 23.01.21. These training sessions involve detailed information about submitting details in Regulatory Compliance Portal by respective Nodal Officers in Central Ministries and States.
9-Nov-2020: States to garner Rs. 6,656 Crores of annual revenue from the historic success of nation’s first commercial coal mining auction
Union Coal Minister Shri Prahlad Joshi has said States will garner a total revenue of Rs 6,656 crores annually from the success of the nation's first ever commercial mining auction. Speaking to the media in New Delhi today after completion of the bidding process of this auction, Shri Joshi stated that 19 mines have successfully been auctioned, which is the highest number of successfully auctioned mines in any tranche of coal auctions.
“The results of these auctions are historic and clearly proves that opening up the coal sector under the dynamic and visionary leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi Ji was a step in the right direction and is propelling towards making the nation Aatmanirbhar in coal” Shri Joshi said. Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi had launched India’s first auction of coal mines for commercial mining on June 18, 2020.
Shri Joshi said that the mines have witnessed fierce competition and companies have offered great premiums. The highest premium remained at 66.75% whereas the average premium remained at 29%.
Out of 38 mines put on auction, financial bids were received for 19 mines and the success of the auction remained at 50%. Whereas the average success rate of the previous 10 tranches of coal auctions remained at about 30% as only 35 mines could be auctioned, out of 116 mines put on auction during the last 10 tranches.
Highlighting the bidding pattern Shri Joshi said that almost 65% bidders were from the ‘non-end user’ category like Real Estate, Infrastructure, Pharma, etc., which is a positive sentiment shared by the industry after removal of ‘End Use’ criteria from the bidding process. 42 companies participated in the auction, out of which 40 were private players. Even two PSUs - NALCO and Andhra Pradesh Mineral Development Corporation Ltd - have participated in the auction.
Out of these successfully auctioned 19 mines, 11 are opencast, 5 are underground mines and remaining 3 are a mix of underground and opencast mines. These mines are spread over 05 states Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Jharkhand and Maharashtra and have consolidated Peak Rated Capacity (PRC) of 51 Million Tonnes Per Annum (MTPA).
7-Nov-2020: Dumping by Vietnam hits Indian pepper
The dumping of Vietnamese pepper in India is happening via Nepal and Sri Lanka. In the case of dumping a country or company exports a product at a price that is lower in the foreign importing market than the price in the exporter’s domestic market. Dumping leads to price-suppression in destination countries and could lead to long term ill effects on the domestic producers.
Vietnam pepper exporters are making use of bilateral trade concessions between India and Sri Lanka and Nepal to dump the pepper into the Indian market. Sri Lanka and Nepal have lower custom duties on their pepper exports to India. Under the FTA, Sri Lanka can export up to 2,500 tonnes per year at zero duty to India, while the duty is 8% under the SAARC Agreement and 50% under the ASEAN Pact.
Indian pepper has suffered a sharp erosion in domestic prices due to the glut in supply.
The Centre must take quick measures to curb misuse of imports. The recently introduced Customs Administration of Rules of Origin under Trade Agreements Rules, 2020 (CAROTAR, 2020), will help rein in misuse of import provisions.
Also the governments must prohibit EOUs and units in SEZs from selling black pepper in the domestic market as these units enjoy special import provisions.