The Hindu Business Line : Cabinet removes location curbs on industries

The Cabinet on Thursday abolished location-based industrial licensing policy under the Industries (Development & Regulation) Act (IDRA), and thereby, doing away with the requirement of obtaining an industrial licence from the Centre.

The removal of this provision would enable companies to function with clearances from their respective State Governments only.

According to the earlier provision, new proposed projects should not have been located within 25 km from the periphery of the standard urban area limits of cities having a population of 10 lakh and above, according to the 1991 census.

The provision, however, had made exception for electronics, computer software, printing industries and other non-polluting industries. Other industries were allowed to be set up within 25 km only inside industrial areas designated by the respective State governments before July 24, 1991.

Explaining the rationale for removing the licensing policy, the Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Mr Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi, said that “since the grant of industrial licence for such projects is on the basis of recommendations of the State Government and clearance from State Pollution Control Board/Ministry of Environment and Forests, the existing procedure of granting licence can be dispensed”.

Under this situation, the “existence of location policy under the IDR Act amounts to an unnecessary hurdle in setting up of industries and needs to be done away with,” the Minister said.

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