The Minister launched the National GIS-enabled land bank system developed by integrating Industrial Information System (IIS) with State GIS System

This project was currently launched for six states but by December 2020, more States and Union Territories are expected to be on board.

Speaking on the occasion, Union Minister Piyush Goyal said this is a prototype only and will be developed further with inputs from states, to make it an effective, transparent mechanism of land identification and procurement.

He also called upon the states to collectively work in the spirit of ‘Team India’ to enhance industrial activity in the country, attract investment and provide a better life to 1.3 billion people of India, and better prospects for the coming generations.

He said ‘Aatamnirbhar Bharat’, a self-reliant country has to increase engagement with the world, from the position of confidence and strength. India has to achieve the target of 5 trillion dollar economy in five years.

For this, manufacturing has to play an important role, which can provide employment and value addition, he added.

The IIS portal is a GIS-enabled database of industrial areas/clusters across the states. More than 3,300industrial parks across 31 States and UTs covering about 475,000 hectare land have been mapped on the System.

Information available includes forest, drainage; raw material heat maps (agricultural, horticulture, mineral layers); multiple layers of connectivity.

The IIS adopts a committed approach towards resource optimization, industrial upgradation and sustainability. The initiative is being supported by Invest India, National Center of Geo-Informatics (NCoG), National e-Governance Division (NeGD), Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology and Bhaskaracharya Institute for Space Applications and Geo-Informatics (BISAG).

Goyal called upon the states to adopt the Public Procurement Policy-Make in India Order issued by the Centre. He said that it is an effective tool to achieve ‘Aatamnirbhar Bharat’ and boost local manufacturing.

Under this, no global tender enquiry is permitted for procurements less than Rs.200 crores. Bidders with beneficial ownership /belonging to countries sharing land border with India, will be able to participate in government procurements only after a mandatory registration, based on clearances given by MEA,MHA and Procuring Ministries.

Countries where Indian companies face restrictive trade practises, invocation of the reciprocity clause may be invoked. The Minister asked the states to appoint a senior officer who can facilitate its quick adoption.

He said that the order promotes ‘Aatamnirbhar Bharat’ and would open a large number of employment opportunities, and hence there is no reason for any objection to this order by any state. State Governments of Manipur, Nagaland and Sikkim have adopted the Order so far.

The Minister also stressed on developing a single-window system, which could be One-stop digital platform to obtain all requisite central and state clearances/approvals, required to start business operations in India.

This could eliminate the need for investors to visit multiple platforms/offices to gather information and obtain clearances from different stakeholders. It could leverage capabilities of existing systems and provide time-bound approvals and real-time status update to investors.

Goyal said that there could be a single application form which could entail Single-time upload of all relevant information & documents.

He said that even the local bodies should also be involved in this system, and a notion of Deemed approval can be adopted to make the system effective. Stating that the Window could be the showpiece of our cooperative, collaborative federalism, he called upon all the states to join hands with the DPIIT.

On the approach of ‘One District One Product’ (ODOP), Goyal said that this could help in making India a Manufacturing Powerhouse. He said that every district has some speciality, strengths or uniqueness, and ODOP could be a transformational step forward realizing the true potential of a district, fuel economic growth and generate employment and rural entrepreneurship.

The approach seeks to add existing industrial capacity beyond the urban areas and create productive manufacturing from a rural/semi urban area. Goyal said that the future manufacturing clusters may also have low value addition manufacturing clusters in rural India. Calling for scaling it up as a national movement, he assured the Centre’s help in packaging, branding and global marketing of such products.

The Minister said that states should identify products with a market potential for import substitution and export accentuation, and establish forward and backward market linkage channels.

On the issue of Districts as Export Hubs, the Minister said that States/UTs have been requested to identify products unique to each district, and requested them to integrate with their district level exports strategies which feed into the State level export strategies.