New Delhi – Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Shri Som Parkash informed the Parliament that Government has undertaken significant initiatives to promote economic growth besides converting the disruption caused by COVID 19 into an opportunity for growth and investment. These includes Atmanirbhar packages, introduction of Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme in fourteen (14) sectors, investment opportunities under National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) and National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP), India Industrial Land Bank (IILB), Industrial Park Rating System (IPRS), soft launch of the National Single Window System (NSWS), etc. An institutional mechanism to fast-track investments has been put in place, in the form of Project Development Cells (PDCs) in all concerned Ministries/ Departments of Government of India. All the above initiatives/schemes are implemented across various Ministries/Departments, Central Government, State Governments.

Further, to improve Ease of Doing Business ecosystem in the country, DPIIT coordinates with Ministries/Departments and States/UTs for initiatives to reduce compliance burden on citizen and business activities. The objective of this exercise is to improve Ease of Doing Business and Ease of Living by Simplifying, Rationalizing, Digitizing and Decriminalizing Government to Business and Citizen Interface across all the States/UTs. In order to have a continuous evaluation framework, DPIIT initiated a dynamic reform exercise called Business Reforms Action Plan (BRAP) for assessment of business environment in the States/Union Territories (UTs). Under BRAP, States and UTs are assessed on the basis of implementation of designated reform parameters contained in the Action Plan. BRAP covers both the Business-centric and Citizen-centric reforms spread across various reform areas. Some of the reform areas are Investment Enablers, Access to Information and Transparency, Online Single Window System, Land Allotment, Construction Permits Enablers, Labour Regulation Enablers, Environment Registration Enablers, Inspection Enablers, Obtaining Utility Permits, Contract Enforcement, Citizen- centric Certificates, Public Distribution System, Healthcare, etc.

To attract more FDI, the Government has put in place an Investor friendly Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policy, wherein most sectors, except certain strategically important sectors, are open for 100% FDI under the automatic route. Further, the policy on FDI is reviewed on an ongoing basis, to ensure that India remains an attractive and investor friendly destination. FDI policy provisions have been progressively liberalized and simplified across various sectors such as Pension, Other Financial Services, Asset reconstruction Companies, Broadcasting, Pharmaceuticals, Single Brand Retail Trading, Construction & Development, Power Exchanges, e-commerce activities, Coal Mining, Contract Manufacturing, Civil Aviation etc. In the recent past, reforms in the FDI Policy have been undertaken in sectors such as Defence, Insurance, Petroleum & Natural Gas and Telecom. Further, all proposals seeking Government approval under FDI route are now filed on National Single Window System (NSWS) Portal.

Some of the key measures and initiatives undertaken to promote exports and enhance market access are holding Periodic engagement at G-G level with partner countries. One such engagement is that of the West Asia and North Africa (WANA) region under the existing Institutional mechanisms with specific objective to propel bilateral Trade and Investments forward including through addressing any issues/hurdles affecting Trade and Investments. Various Export promotion events, including under the Market Access Initiative (MAI) scheme, have been organized in target markets in the WANA region, by the Department, in association with Export Promotion Councils, Industry Associations, and respective Indian Missions in the region. For instance, India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) signed the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) in February, 2022, on the side-lines of the India-UAE Virtual Summit which provides for an institutional mechanism to encourage and improve bilateral Trade and Investments between the two countries.