Meghalaya gets ranked in 'ease of doing business'

Shillong: Meghalaya has been ranked as an "Emerging Business Ecosystem' in the Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) 2020 Assessment released by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

The Government of Meghalaya has been consistently working for the past few years towards creating a conducive business environment and citizen-centric services through which it aims to boost investor confidence, foster a business-friendly climate, and augment the ease of living for citizens of the State through timely and digitalized services.

The assessment was released by Nirmala Sitharaman, Finance Minister, Government of India under the august presence of Piyush Goyal, Union Commerce & Industry Minister at an event organized in Delhi.

DPIIT assessed 38 States and UTs on the Business Reforms Action Plan (BRAP) 2020 which consisted of 301 reforms around regulatory processes, policies, practices and procedures classified into 15 Reform Areas.

The assessment was based on a survey to take feedback from actual users of the services.

The state's Planning Department is the Nodal Agency to improve the regulatory environment in the State and further ease of doing business. 48 departments worked together to implement the majority of reforms under BRAP 2020 in areas related to mandatory online single window system for regulatory clearances, central inspection system, auto-renewals, online query handling and notified timelines under the State Public Service Guarantee Act.

Despite facing challenges due to the COVID pandemic, multiple online workshops were conducted with the industries to strengthen the relationship and to create awareness about reforms undertaken by the State Departments to ease the burden on businesses.

Earlier, for simple licenses/approvals such as Business licenses for small shops, applicants had to visit the government offices from far-flung areas of different districts to physically submit the application and receive the certificate.

The e-Governance initiatives, taken by the Government of Meghalaya simplified the overall approval processes, time-bound approvals, and grievance redressal mechanism with no physical touchpoints for the business houses or MSMEs to set up their business or expand in the state with reduced cost and time.

Chief Minister, Conrad K Sangma congratulated all the concerned departments, industries, and citizens of Meghalaya for the accomplishment and their commitment to achieving this.

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