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Punjab govt announces reforms to reduce regulatory burden on MSMEs

Updated: Apr 16, 2021 07:14:47am
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Punjab govt announces reforms to reduce regulatory burden on MSMEs

Chandigarh, Apr 16 (KNN) The Punjab government has announced a slew of reforms to further reduce the regulatory burden on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).

The reforms are based on the GAME EoDB Task Force's report titled “Transforming EoDB for MSMEs in Punjab”, which proposed data-informed regulatory changes to rationalize, digitize, and decriminalize the regulatory landscape.

In November 2020, Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship (GAME) signed an MoU with the Punjab government to showcase the state as an ‘Ease of Doing Business for MSME’ lighthouse.

GAME’s EoDB taskforce proposed five recommendations for priority roll-out and divided into two sections – labour and non-labour. For a typical MSME, labour constitutes more than half the compliance burden and hence a bulk of the recommendations were labour related such as decriminalizing more than 275 low risk offences related to labour, reducing Labour registers from 60 to less than 14, further improving flexibility to hire women workers, and reducing interface with inspectors by removing permission on deductions for leave of absence.

“Punjab offers one of the best ecosystems for entrepreneurs to thrive, and together with GAME, we are excited to push the State’s efforts much further. With just 3 months of the collaborative work, we have started on the journey to make Punjab a ‘right to business’ State,'' said Punjab Chief Minister Capt, Amarinder Singh on Thursday.

''We want Punjab to become the best State in EoDB for MSMEs. These reforms are the start of a journey, and we hope to make Punjab a lighthouse State for MSME growth support. We have listened to entrepreneurs on the ground and we will continue to reduce the compliance burden to start, operate, and grow a business,” he added.

The Chief Minister also emphasised that this is the start of the transformation journey and set commitments for future changes including rationalising trade license with shops & establishments act, removing imprisonment terms from 100 low risk provisions in non-labour related rules, reducing pre-commissioning licenses & NOCs to start a business by 20 per cent, and streamlining procedures for change in land Use & Utility connections.

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