Meghalaya has been ranked as “Emerging Business Ecosystem’ in the Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) 2020 Assessment released by Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
“The government of Meghalaya has been consistently working for the past few years towards creating a conducive business environment and citizen centric services through which it aims to boost investor confidence, foster a business-friendly climate, and augment the ease of living for citizens of the State through timely and digitalized services,” a government press release said.
The assessment was released by Union Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman in the presence of Union Commerce & Industry Minister, Piyush Goyal at an event organised in New Delhi.
DPIIT assessed 38 States and UTs on the Business Reforms Action Plan (BRAP) 2020 which consisted of 301 reforms around regulatory processes, policies, practices and procedures classified into 15 Reform Areas. The assessment was based on the survey to take feedback from actual users of the services.
The State Planning Department is the nodal agency to improve the regulatory environment in State and further ease of doing business.
“48 departments worked together to implement majority of reforms under BRAP 2020 in areas related to mandatory online single window system for regulatory clearances, central inspection system, auto renewals, online query handling and notified timelines under the State Public Service Guarantee Act etc,” the statement said, adding that despite the challenges due to Covid-19 pandemic, multiple online workshops were conducted with the industries to strengthen the relationship and to create awareness about reforms undertaken by the State Departments to ease the burden on businesses.
“Earlier, for simple licenses/approvals such as Business license for small shops, applicant had to visit the government offices from far flung areas of different districts to physically submit the application and receive the certificate. The e-Governance initiatives simplified the overall approval processes, time-bound approvals, and grievance redressal mechanism with no physical touch-points for the business houses or MSMEs to setup their business or expand in the state with reduced cost and time,” it said.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma has congratulated all the concerned departments, industries and citizens for the accomplishment and their commitment in achieving this feat.
