State Policy

• Economic Development across all sectors

• Balance in both economic and social spheres

• Focus on physical connectivity, virtual connectivity and social connectivity

• Focus on industries other than those where it can leverage its abundant natural resources

• Development of industrial infrastructure in the state

With a view to attain a double digit economic growth the state government has implemented certain policy and regulatory measures.

Industrial Policy

To make Madhya Pradesh an attractive destination for industrial investment, the state government has recently adopted the Industrial Promotion Policy 2004.The main thrust of the policy is:

• Effective implementation of single window system through establishment of a Madhya Pradesh Trade and Investment Facilitation Corporation

• Promotion of different industrial clusters in the state, in view of availability of raw material, skilled labour and market

• Enhancement of infrastructure in the identified industrial clusters

• Revival of sick industrial units by granting special packages

• Setting up of an Industrial Infrastructure Development Fund

The policy also provides incentives through exemption from stamp duty, registration charges, entry tax, etc. for a specified period.

Simplification of the approval process

The state government has established District Tradeand Industry Centres to facilitate new industrial investment in the districts.These centres will be responsible for co-ordinating and following up with other government agencies in the state for speedy approvals and clearances.

The state government also proposes to simplify the approval process for setting up industrial units in the state by empowering committees at district and state levels.

To promote a more conducive policy framework for various emerging sectors, Madhya Pradesh has formulated sector-specific government policies for information technology, tourism and biotechnology. Given below are some of the salient features of these policies.

IT policy

• Setting up of ‘Madhya Pradesh Agency for Promotion of Information Technology’ to propel the growth of IT

• Promotion of infrastructure and investment through IT cities and by formulating special package for providing financial assistance to the IT industry, promoting hardware technology parks

• Facilitate single window clearance system

• Introduction of IT in all government departments

• Manpower development in IT and setting up of a virtual university

IT initiatives

Madhya Pradesh has taken steps to promote IT in various aspects of governance. It has set up an optical fibre backbone of 20,000 kms to cover 313 development blocks across 45 districts in the state.

The state government has prescribed various guidelines/principles and general conditions for allowing private participation and investment in e-Governance projects for citizen services. All state treasuries and 86 per cent of the land records in the state are digitised. The state government plans to computerise the departments of land registration, commercial taxes and state transport.

The state has also started executing projects to leverage IT to offer value added services to the common man at the rural level.

As part of this initiative, information flows and services like wholesale price, details of land records, registration of applications, public grievance redressal, etc. are made available online.

In another initiative, the government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Reliance group for providing telecom connectivity to 7,800 kiosks across the state.

The government has also initiated changes in labour laws to make them more favourable to IT industries.

Tourism policy

• Improvement and creation of adequate basic infrastructure

• Special package of incentives for tourism industry including exemption from luxury tax, sales tax and entertainment tax for new projects for ten years

• Designation of 25 tourist circuits for commercial tax exemption for tourist vehicles

Biotech policy

• Promotion of community-based biotechnology applications in agriculture, horticulture, livestock and poultry, fisheries and forestry and health sectors

• Setting up integrated biotechnology parks with state-of-the-art facilities for manufacturing units and research laboratories

• Establishing the State Biotechnology Council which includes eminent biotechnologists, educationists, industrialists and ex-officio members from various departments of state government

Special Economic Zone policy

The Madhya Pradesh Government has a policy for developing Special Economic Zones (SEZ) in the state.The SEZs, earmarked as duty-free enclaves, aim at promoting rapid industrial development and employment generation.The approved policy regime includes:

• Exemption of all state and local taxes and levies for transactions with the SEZ and for supply from domestic tariff areas to the SEZ

• Exemption from stamp duty and registration fees

• Grant of labour, energy, environment, industrial health and safety related permits and approvals through a dedicated single window mechanism

• Exemption from electricity duty, cess and any other tax or levy on sale of electricity for self generated and purchased power

• Expeditious process for land acquisition to set up SEZs

Special Economic Zones: Key advantages

• Tax incentives

• Faster approvals

• Single window zone administration

• Superior infrastructure

Infrastructure policy

To improve urban infrastructure and develop civic amenities, the state is implementing a US$ 330 million project at Indore, Bhopal, Gwalior, Ratlam, Jabalpur and Ujjain.This is being done with help from the Asian Development Bank.The project focuses on providing sustainable basic urban infrastructure and services to these six cities. It also supports comprehensive urban governance and institutional reform to enhance accountability in municipal management, resource mobilisation and cost recovery.

The project covers improvement and expansion of municipal infrastructure services viz. urban water supply, sewerage and sanitation, storm water drainage and solid waste management.

The state government has set up the Madhya Pradesh State Road Development Corporation (MPSRDC) to accelerate the development of transport infrastructure in the state.The state has achieved significant success in implementing road projects through private sector participation

Integrated Infrastructure Development Centres
Pursuant to policy measures for promoting and strengthening clusters of small scale and tiny units, Integrated Infrastructure Development Centres (IIDCs) are being promoted in the areas not covered

Madhya Pradesh Road Policy: Salient Features

• Encourage private sector participation rough BOT contracts

• Amendment of Indian Tolls (Madhya Pradesh) Act, 1932 to facilitate private sector participation

• Enabling legislation for regulation and development of the sector through the proposed Madhya Pradesh Highway Bill

• Development of existing road network through preparation of Master Plan, provide new links, focus on highway safety

• Develop an efficient ‘Maintenance Management System’ to make optimal use of the available resources

• Setting up of State Road Maintenance Fund

• Incentives to ensure commercial viability of road projects

under the growth centres. They aim at facilitating exports, promoting stronger linkages between agriculture and industry, providing basic infrastructure and common facilities and creating employment opportunities. At present, eight IIDCs are under various stages of implementation.

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