• Home
• /
• Business

Kerala rolls out reforms to woo investors

The government’s top priority is to transform the state into “an investment destination of choice” for nationals and overseas investors, including non-resident Indians: State’s Minister for Industries and Law P. Rajeeve

Kerala has embarked on major drive to revitalize its industrial sector by enhancing the ease of doing business ecosystem by rolling out a host of investor-friendly reforms and initiatives, the south Indian state’s Minister for Industries and Law P. Rajeeve said.

The minister, who is part of a top-level delegation led by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan for the inauguration of Kerala Week at Expo 2020, said the government’s top priority is to transform the state into “an investment destination of choice” for nationals and overseas investors, including non-resident Indians.

Rajeeve, who was a member of Indian Parliament before being appointed as a cabinet minister in the Left Democratic Front government that had returned to power with a sweeping majority for a record second term in a row, said the newly introduced reforms and ease of doing measures have caught the imagination of potential investors in the UAE, including leading corporates and Emiratis.

The minister admitted that there are several outdated laws concerning the industrial sector which have yet to be either repealed or revised.

“We have several schemes tailor-made for overseas and NRI investors. The current LDF government has launched a virtual meeting platform for overseas investors to promote awareness about the investment scene and opportunities. Another initiative is the “Meet the Investor” programme for entrepreneurs investing above Rs1 billion. In order to address the grievances or concerns of existing and new investors, the government has created several special single-window problem-solving platforms, including the Meet the Minister and other mechanisms.

The minister said as part of the drive, industrial estates will be set up in all districts for which the process of identifying the land has begun. The present policy is to identify 25 acres in villages and 15 acres in urban areas for setting up industrial parks. Since it is not feasible to acquire this much land from both the villages and urban areas, it has been decided to begin industrial estates in much lesser areas.

Under a new rule, NRIs and other investors are allowed to set up private investment parks in 10 acres of land.

The government has taken steps to reduce the regulatory compliance burden and integrated 21 departments offering 79 services. All formalities can be done online. “To reduce the subjective factors in inspections we have brought them under Kerala – Central Inspection System(K-CIS), so the inspections are selected online and no officer can cause harm or give undue benefits. There is also a ‘Statutory Grievance Redressal Mechanism’ so that concerns of the investors are addressed fairly and quickly,” said the minister.

“We have initiated steps to establish 1,00,000 micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the state during 2022, which will be observed as Industrial Year. As part of the drive, we have launched a process to start a business or an MSME (investments up to Rs500 million) in 24 hours. All the investor has to do is to register and get an acknowledgment from the K-SWIFT portal. For any investments above Rs500 million, a composite licence will be issued in a week,” Rajeeve told Khaleej Times in an interview.

Work from home or Kerala is a concept the government is promoting along with “Made in Kerala” certification to ensure quality standards.

The state’s industrial sector, which recorded a 13 per cent growth over the past year, accounts for16 per cent of the state’s gross state domestic product (GSDP). Top on the government’s agenda is to transform the sixth-ranked Indian state in terms GSDP (Rs9.87 trillion) into “a centre of responsible investment and responsible industries.”

Also, underway is a move to unveil a first-of-its-kind policy to promote environmental, social and governance (ESG) investments as the southern state focusses on the ease of doing business as well as living to attract more investors.

— issacjohn@khaleejtimes.com