NEW DELHI: Outdated laws and rigid licensing norms are impacting the growth potential of three sectors — sugar, tourism and alcohol-beverage, which had provided eight crore jobs in India last year, said a study by Pahle India Foundation. While the Central government has been proactive in weeding out outdated laws and practices, there hasn’t been much push from state governments, it said.
The study said that an alcoholic beverage manufacturer needs 50 brand registrations to sell five products in 10 states and the process of getting a label registered may take anywhere between 30-60 days. Moreover, the process for renewing licensing and getting registrations are done offline in many states and there is a lack of coordination between State Excise, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India and other departments on what goes on a label.
It added that price approvals and increases (by government) are swathed in opacity and discretionary powers, with little or no transparency, no clear process laid down in law and no guiding principle.
About the sugar industry, the report said, one of the primary problems faced by the industry is the pricing of sugarcane. The price for sugarcane, known as Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) is fixed based on the recovery rate and other parameters, by the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices.
“However, state government have got into the habit of announcing their own price known as State Advised Price (SAP),” the study noted.