Ease of Doing Business for MSMEs: The Punjab Cabinet has approved a new policy for industries and the electric vehicles effective from October 17, 2022 – when the earlier policy period expired – for a period of five years, reported PTI.
The industrial policy of the state focuses particularly on the three key sectors – Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), infrastructure and power.
Also Read: Union Budget 2023: Solving MSMEs delayed payment issue cleverly
The approval for the new industrial policy came ahead of the state’s investors’ summit scheduled for the last week of this month (February 23-24) in Mohali.
Other major focus areas of the policy are startup and entrepreneurship, large enterprises, innovation, skill development, ease of doing business, fiscal and non fiscal incentive, export promotion logistics, stakeholder engagement and grievance redressal, the statement added.
Under the new policy, the state will develop 15 industrial parks covering general and sector specific requirements of various industrial sectors and 20 rural clusters across the state.
The new policy also outlined the thrust sectors for the purpose of higher fiscal incentives such as the manufacturing of auto and its components including EVs, sports goods including fitness equipment, hand tools including power tools and machine tools, agricultural machinery and equipment, paper based packaging units, circular economy activity including shredding units, and one district one product (ODOP).
Besides that, the cabinet-approved Punjab Electric Vehicle Policy (PEVP) 2022 is aimed at keeping a check on pollution in the state caused by emission from vehicles, the report cited an official statement.
Apart from establishing Punjab as the destination for manufacturing of electric vehicles, components and batteries, the state’s EV policy is looking at reducing vehicular emission, creating infrastructure, manufacturing, research and development, job creation, ensuring sustainability, it said.