A. DIPP ASSESSMENT 2017 FRAMEWORK (405 INTERVENTIONS)

The revised DIPP framework for assessing state reforms and implementation in 2017 has 405 interventions as compared to 340 in the previous one. The business reform action plan continues to focus on online and technology driven improvements in government procedures to enable a conducive business environment.

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The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Ministry of Commerce and Industry, in partnership with the World Bank Group, released the Business Reform Action Plan (BRAP) 2017 for implementation by States/UTs on 13.04.2017. The BRAP includes 405 recommendations for reforms on regulatory processes, policies, practices and procedures spread across 12 reform areas, that is, labour regulation enablers, contract enforcement, registering property,inspection reform enablers, single window system; land availability and allotment; construction permit enablers, environmental registration enablers, obtaining utility permits, paying taxes, access to information and transparency enablers and sector specific reforms spanning the lifecycle of a typical business.

This year there are 103 new set of reforms (out of 405) focusing on central inspection system, online land allotment system, online single window system for granting construction permits, registration under Inter State Migrant Workmen (RE&CS) Act, 1979, approval for boiler manufacturer and boiler erector etc. BRAP 2017 also includes two new sectors i.e. Healthcare and Hospitality. The last date to implement the reform is 31.10.2017.

DIPP will carry out a comprehensive business-to-government (B2G) feedback exercise this year whereby feedback will be taken from businesses on the quality of implementation of the reforms claimed by the States and UTs. For each State/UT, the scores will be aggregated over all the surveys conducted to yield an overall score for the State/UT. The feedback scores will be used to generate a ranking of States/UTs in terms of reform implementation. Such a ranking will be different from the last year’s ranking, which was a ranking of de jure reforms (or reforms based on evidence submitted by States).

Andhra Pradesh was ranked No. 2 among all states in 2015 in Ease of Doing Business in 2016 the state has achieved 1st rank. The success story continued in 2017 as well where Andhra Pradesh was distinct No.1 among all the states in India. While the state proactively implements all the reforms, the efficacy of the implemented reforms on ground is evident from the high Investor Feedback score received by Andhra Pradesh in the 2017 edition of BRAP evaluation by DIPP.

In 2017, the state strengthened its leadership position through implementation of 99.73% reforms and has been classified under the Top Achievers category by DIPP. The spirit of advocacy and awareness imbibed within the state machinery has been a key factor in implementing new reforms and improving old ones. The State has always followed the moto of ‘People First, Industry First’ in which the Government, through its Real Time Governance cell, reaches out to investors from time to time to obtain their feedback, identifies underlying concerns and forwards it to the respective department for redressal. The department then identifies gaps in the existing implementation and re-engineers the processes to incorporate investor feedback, wherever feasible. The success of this initiative is evident from the high investor feedback scores of 86.50% which indicates the faith of investor community in the government and the degree of investor feedback incorporation in regulatory processes. The current standing is as follows:

Based on implementation of reforms, States have been divided into four categories, as below

As a part of Ease of Doing Business, 2017 reforms the following are the key highlights

• The Single Desk Portal has been integrated with online applications of APIIC, Factories, Fire, etc. This will enable information sharing and minimize the duplicity of information shared by investors.

• Industry services related to Registration under Legal Metrology, Licenses for setting up of drug retail/wholesale, Permission for tree-cutting & transportation from Forests, Road cutting permissions, Building Permits, Trade licenses, Factory Plan approval, Fire No-objection certificates have been made completely online

• The documentation requirement for availing various services has been reduced considerably. In many cases no more than two documents are required along with application.

• To minimize disagreements/disputes with respect to fee/charges for processing of various applications, the fees/charges are standardized and investors are provided automated calculation of fees. After calculating fees, the applicants can directly make payment via internet banking /credit/debit cards.

• To ensure faster approvals and easier access, more than 45 industry services are to be processed without any physical touchpoints.

• AP Public Service Delivery Guarantee Act, 2017 was enacted with clear commitment on timelines for delivery of over 60 services to businesses. The act also entails penalties for concerned authority for defaulting on service delivery timelines.

• The requirement of inspections for allocation of raw materials such as Coal, Ethanol has been discontinued and to be allocated on-the-spotbased on self-certification.

• Large number of reforms were implementedin the area of compliance inspections by Labour, Factories, Boiler and Pollution Control departments. All types of inspections are brought under Central Inspection Portal enabling centralized scheduling, inspector allocation and monitoring to minimize interruptions to businesses.

• Furthermore, in the area of inspections, Self-certification for medium risk industry categories has been introduced and low risk are exempted from inspections

Single Window Systems:

Among the many initiatives undertaken as part of facilitating industry set-up in the State, AP government has launched the Single Desk Portal (SDP) in June 2015. The one-stop-shop is helping industries to obtain more than 39 regulatory clearancesrequired to set-up and operate business in 21 days. The SDP supports end-to-end transaction processing with online payment and application status tracking. As of October, 2017 investors can obtain clearances belonging to 19 departments covering Pre-establishment approvals, pre-operation approvals and renewals. Since launch in June 2015, more than 23,100 industry applications were cleared through the Single Desk Portal.

DPMS System for Construction Permit, Factory Plan and Fire NoC:

Recognizing the critical role of construction in enabling business growth, Andhra Pradesh has implemented sweeping reforms to minimize regulatory hurdles and simplify approval process of approvals related to drawings/plans.Foremost among the reforms is the implementation of online DPMS (Development Planning Management System), which has enabled a conducive ecosystem for approval of plans required for construction and setting up of industries. The application for construction permit, factory plan approval, Fire No objection Certificate etc. can be submitted online through the DPMS System and obtain Auto-DCR scrutinized and approved drawings/plans.

Since launch, more than 1000 industrialconstruction permits have been grantedthrough online DPMS System.

Key features of the Online DPMS System are:

• The applicant (investor) submits the application for grant of approval on-line

• The AUTO-CAD drawings of the building/factory layout are processed by DCR system and the system gives the compliance /deviations/fire restrictions report in 1-2 hours including the applicable charges as per relevant codes/G.Os( This entire process used to take 5-10 days)

• After drawing approval, the application is forwarded to ULB/UDA/Factories/Fire department staff for scrutiny of other documentation and approval

• Payments are made online through Payment Gateway

• The entire process of approval on DPMS system now takes 5-7 days(previously 25-30 days)

Reforms in Inspections :

Reforms in the inspections by department ofLabour, Factories, Boilers, Forests, Legal metrology, Municipalities, Pollution Control Board (PCB), etc. has been a predominant area in EoDB 2017. Central Inspection System (CIS) Portal has been formally launched to operationalize the joint inspections by Labour and factories. CIS shall also serve as common platform for managing inspections of Legal Metrology, Boilers and PCB. To bring transparency in the inspection process and reduce the turnaround time, the inspection reports are now made available online for download on CIS and the timeline for upload of inspection reports by the inspectors has been capped at 48 hours.

For granting construction permits, aJoint Inspection Committee has been established to carry out inspections by various government authorities responsible for granting single point construction permits at all ULBs and IDCs. Additionally, for No Objection Certificates (NOCs) from Airports Authority of India, Fire, National Monuments Authority etc. the applicant no longer need to apply with concerned departments, instead,the applicant can request for NOCs through the DPMS-NOC interface at the time of submitting application.

Reforms in Payment of taxes and charges :

Payment of all types of taxes (other than GST) such as Property tax and charges such as tax, Water Charges, etc. has been made online including the details of past arrears/dues. The user can Allow third party to view and verify the records of past payments by entering connection number.

Also, Andhra Pradesh has come up with Building Rules 2017 enabling a comprehensive, development oriented and easily adoptable building stipulations to enable business friendly structure. The new building rules are anticipated to minimize the prevailing ambiguity in documentation required, various applicable codes and rates. This will further enable speedier approvals of construction permits and also strengthen quality control and safety systems.

Feedback :

AP is special emphasis on feedback from the industry, Andhra Pradesh government is ensuring that the reforms are not only implemented but are utilized effectively by the concerned industry.

A. DIPP ASSESSMENT 2016 FRAMEWORK (340 INTERVENTIONS)

The revised DIPP framework for assessing state reforms and implementation in 2016 has 340 interventions as compared to 285 in the previous one. The business reform action plan continues to focus on online and technology driven improvements in government procedures to enable a conducive business environment.

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The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Ministry of Commerce and Industry, in partnership with the World Bank Group, is pleased to release the results of the Assessment of State Implementation of Business Reforms 2015-16. The Assessment studies the extent to which states have implemented DIPP’s 340-point Business Reform Action Plan (BRAP) for States/UTs 2015-16, covering the period July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2016. The BRAP includes recommendations for reforms on 58 regulatory processes, policies, practices or procedures spread across 10 reform areas spanning the lifecycle of a typical business.

Data for this assessment was collected from State Governments on the BRAP portal. The portal, among the first of its kind globally, allowed State Governments to submit evidence of implemented reforms. At least 32 State and UT Governments submitted evidence of implementation of 7,124 reforms. These submissions were reviewed by the World Bank team and validated by DIPP’s team to study whether they met the objectives of the BRAP. The portal allowed for collaborative dialogue between DIPP and the State Governments in finalizing the evidence submitted. A total of 6,069 reforms were approved as implemented or not applicable on the portal.

The results of the assessment demonstrate that States have increasingly risen to addressing the challenge of making it easier to do business. The national implementation average stands at 48.93%, significantly higher than last year’s national average of 32%. This demonstrates the great progress made by States this year.

The final rank of the States as of June 30, 2016 is shown in the table below.

Based on implementation of reforms, States have been divided into four categories, as below

The highlight of the implemented reforms during this period is as follows:

Single Window Systems: Various States have created a dedicated body/bureau as a one-stop system for State level regulatory and fiscal incentive approvals. The online single window system has a provision for filing applications, payment, status tracking, online scrutiny and approval of applications. The officials of the Body/Bureau have also been given powers to grant approvals.

States include: Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, Telangana, Uttarakhand

Tax reforms: States have made good progress in tax reforms. These include mandating e-registration for Value Added Tax (VAT), Central Sales Tax (CST), Professional Tax, Entry tax, etc, allowing online payment and return filing; providing e-filing support through service centers and helpline and risk-based tax compliance inspections.

States include: Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal

Construction permits:Many States have allowed applicants to apply online and upload building plans for automated construction permit approval. In addition, several states have developed AutoCAD-based systems that automatically scan building plans and monitor compliance with the building bye-laws and building codes in force.

States include: Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Telangana, Uttrakhand

Environment and labour reforms:States have also implemented advanced automated solutions to deal with environmental and pollution related applications and approvals. These solutions provides hassle free, 24 X 7 eaccess to businesses to apply online, track applications, file returns and statements and get online permissions under various Acts and regulations.

States include: Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal

Inspection Reforms:A number of inspection reforms with regard to labour, tax and environment related compliances have been introduced across the States to help businesses comply with inspection requirements in a user-friendly manner. To bring in transparency, the states have also published comprehensive procedures and checklist for various inspections and have implemented online systems for allocation of inspectors to increase efficiency and effectiveness of the procedure.

States include: Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Punjab, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand

Commercial disputes and paper-less courts:There has been significant progress this year in the area of judicial reforms compared to last year, particularly due to the passage of the Commercial Courts, Commercial Divisions and Commercial Appellate Divisions Act. To address the concern of time and costs associated with various legal processes, District Courts in various states have also made the provision of making online payments, e-filing and e-summons. Few States have also filled up vacancies in District Courts/commercial courts to ensure availability of adequate capacity for dealing with various cases.

States include: Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Telangana

A. DIPP ASSESSMENT 2015 FRAMEWORK (285 INTERVENTIONS)

In 2015, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) in consultation with State Governments and industry associations, undertook a National Workshop for creating an enabling framework for stimulating investments in Manufacturing. The DIPP assessment of state-level reforms related to business in India and the assessment was undertaken to examine the extent to which state governments have implemented the 98-point action plan issued to states in early 2015.

This was a pan India initiative that translated into 285 questions/interventions that have been classified under major reform areas like Single Window, Labour, Pollution Control, Taxation, land, building and construction permits, etc. Every factor enabling ease of doing business is treated with equal weightage as part of the assessment framework.

1. Timelines and Activities

2. Areas of focus

The details of the 8 assessment areas with number of questions in each are as below:

B. ANDHRA PRADESH RANKED 2ND IN EODB

Top 10 States

Area wise rank and score of Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh was ranked in the category of 'Aspiring Leaders' which included 7 states - Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Rajasthan.

World Bank highlighted following initiatives taken by Andhra Pradesh implemented an effective online single-window system with provision for filing, payment, status tracking, online scrutiny and approval of applications.

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