New Delhi: The Government enumerated the measures taken up to increase the ease of doing business in Defence, in the Parliament today.
In a written reply to a question to this effect, asked by Colonel Rajyavardhan Rathore (Retd) in Lok Sabha, the Minister of State for Defence, Shripad Naik, enumerated the following measures:
- The initial validity of industrial licenses under the I(D&R) Act, 1951 which was earlier 7 years, extendable up to 3 years for existing as well as future licenses, issued vide DPIIT Press Note 5 (2015 Series) dated April 27, 2015 had been revised to 15 years, further extendable up to 18 years for existing as well as future licenses vide Press Note 10 (2015 Series) dated September 22, 2015. Further, under Arms Act 1959/Arms Rules 2016, license granted shall be valid for the life time of the licensee company provided the licensee shall be required to setup facility and fulfil other conditions within a period of seven years from the date of grant of a license.
- Guidelines had been issued to streamline the processing of applications for grant of extension of validity of Industrial Licence.
- Partial commencement of production was now treated as commencement of production of all the items included in the licence.
- The advanced version of National Industrial Classification (NIC-2008) had been adopted, which was a superior and sophisticated industrial classification.
- The ‘Security Manual for Licensed Defence Industry’ had been issued. With the issue of the Security Manual, the requirement of affidavit from the applicants had been done away with.
- Restriction of annual capacity in the Industrial Licence for Defence Sector had been removed under Industries (Development & Regulation) Act, 1951.
- Licensee had been allowed to sell the defence items to the government entities under the control of Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs), State Governments and other Defence Licensee companies without approval of Department of Defence Production.
- Mapping of Sector specific FDI policy with NIC-2008 code had been completed.
- Licensee had been allowed to manufacture enhanced capacity up to fifteen percent of the existing capacity with prior intimation to the licensing authority under Arms Act, 1959.
- A new online portal had been developed for facilitating filing of online applications for Industrial Licence under Industries (Development & Regulation)-IDR Act, 1951/Arms Act, 1959. The link of the portal was https://services.dipp.gov.in. This online portal is available for Public with effect from October 16, 2018 for filing applications.
- Subsequent to issue of Ministry of Home Affairs Notification No. S.O. 6203(E) dated December 14, 2018, Defence products list requiring compulsory licence from DPIIT under Industries (Development & Regulation) Act, 1951 and Arms Act, 1959 had been pruned, and DPIIT Press Note 1(2019 Series) dated January 1, 2019 had been issued. This was in supersession of DPIIT Press Note 3(2014 Series) dated June 26, 2014. With issue of Press Note 1(2019 Series), the licensing in defence sector had been further liberalised.
- To facilitate further ease of doing business in Industrial Licensing Press Note 2(2019 Series) dated September 11, 2019 had been issued clarifying that No Industrial Licence/Arms Licence was required for manufacture of any parts or accessories in Defence Sector, unless they were specifically listed in any of the Annexures of Press Note 1(2019 Series). This shall not apply to issue of Arms Licence for small arms by MHA.
- Press Note 3(2019 Series) dated September 11, 2019 was issued thereby withdrawing Press Note 17(1984 Series).
- Final notification regarding Amendment in the Registration and Licensing of Industrial Undertaking Rules, 1952 under Industries (Development & Regulation) Act, 1951 was published vide Notification No. G.S.R. 637(E) dated September 4, 2019 and the Registration and Licensing of Industrial Undertaking Rules, 2019 had been laid on the table of the Houses of Parliament in the Winter Session, 2019.
- The License applications are processed in consultation with various stakeholders. Currently, 28 License applications in MoD and 30 in Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) are under examination and stakeholders’ consultation as per laid down procedure.
- As per Registration and Licensing of Industrial Undertaking (Amendment) Rules, 2019 dated 04.09.2019 notified by Ministry of Commerce & Industry, the timeline for processing the application is 5 months from the date of registration.
- Meetings of Standing Committee on Private Sector Participation are convened at regular intervals and comments are conveyed to Licensing Authorities.
– global bihari bureau
