'Kerala is an investor-unfriendly state' is a campaign that occasionally comes up and some recent unfortunate developments have triggered the debate again. Stories of bureaucratic apathy and lack of political will are floated and circulated even though there is not even an iota of truth in those.
As a government committed to the overall development of the state, we are determined to bring more investors here. During the first Pinarayi Vijayan government, Kerala introduced several initiatives for improving the ease of doing business. With the LDF government being elected to office for the second consecutive term, the stage is set for more revolutionary changes. Anyone can start a non-polluting industry with capital up to Rs 10 crore without waiting for any clearance. They only need to bother about clearances after successfully completing three years. For major projects having a capital of Rs 100 crore or more, all licenses should be given within seven days of submitting all documents. If the government agencies fail to issue licenses within that period, the investor can treat it as a deemed approval and go ahead with the project. In the last five years, 70,000 new MSME companies have started operations in the state.
The first Cabinet meeting after this government took over discussed a continuity plan for improving the investor-friendly image of the state. We have decided to introduce a statutory industrial grievance address mechanism and I think Kerala will be the first state to initiate such a system. A Bill to constitute state-level and district-level panels to resolve industrial disputes will be presented in the next Assembly session. The relevance of such a panel is that it will have statutory powers to deal with complaints related to various departments such as local self-government, health, fire and rescue services, factories and boilers, and legal metrology that are empowered to provide various clearance certificates for industries. The panel will have a deadline to resolve complaints and officials concerned will be held responsible for any breach of that deadline.
From August 1, we will be launching an online system for streamlining all industrial inspections. There won’t be any harassment from officials in the name of inspections. We will be using artificial intelligence to shuffle and choose the team of officials who will visit a particular industry for inspection so that no prejudice or favouritism will come into play. Low-risk and medium-risk industries will be inspected online. That means such investors need to declare their compliance with rules online. Regarding high-risk industries, inspection will be conducted in randomly sampled institutions.
A new protocol to conduct preliminary investigation by a competent authority on complaints about industries will also be put in place. Only those complaints that have prima facie merit will be probed. We still have several outdated rules governing the sector. There are complaints that some officials use such irrelevant and impractical clauses to harass investors. A committee will examine all such rules and the government will initiate legislation to amend the acts concerned to weed out archaic clauses.
All these decisions were taken through consultation with various industry bodies. In the last two months, I have convened six high-level discussions with industry leaders. These suggestions came up during the meetings and we immediately decided to act on them. In the future too, we will be working in a thoroughly democratic manner by listening to all stakeholders.
When it comes to new investments in Kerala, I don’t think there is any difference of opinion even among the opposition regarding the types of industries suitable for the state. We want to create another Kerala model by promoting responsible investment. According to global statistics, one-fourth of the total industrial investment in the world last year was responsible investment. The concept of promoting Environment, Social and (Corporate) Governance investment is gathering momentum in the developed world. We also want to welcome ESG investors and are committed to providing all facilities for them.
The thrust on the knowledge economy given in the Budget is a reflection of our determination to provide a skilled workforce for knowledge-based industries. The COVID-19 pandemic has opened up new avenues of opportunity. Keralites working for different multinational companies now work from their homes in different villages and towns here. With K-FON (Kerala Fibre Optics Network) becoming a reality, high-speed internet connection will be available in all houses in the state. Thousands of educated women in Kerala now don’t work due to personal inconveniences. With cheap high-speed internet connectivity becoming a right and work from home culture becoming the norm, the state’s thrust on the knowledge economy will open new horizons for them. In addition to these, there are hundreds of start-ups led by young brains. Every day, we hear stories of them bringing millions of dollars of foreign investment to the state.
The LDF government doesn’t believe in compromising on social security parameters to bring large-scale investment to the state. The rule of the land will be applicable to all. We have a clear road map and we know very well the value of Brand Kerala.
(The writer is Minister of Industries and Law, Kerala)