Centre’s flagship initiatives likely to get additional funds
National industrial corridors, ‘Make In India,’ ‘Start-up India’ and the national Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) policy may get a major fillip later this year in terms of additional Budgetary allocation.
Revamping schemes
The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) — the nodal agency for industrial corridors and the above-mentioned flagship initiatives — has begun work on revamping its schemes.
It aims to complete this exercise before the Winter Session of Parliament and is likely to propose additional Budgetary support this fiscal for industrial corridors, ‘Make In India, Start-up India and IPR policy implementation, official sources said.
This proposal would be made in the ‘Supplementary Demands for Grants’ through which it gets an opportunity to seek excess sums showing that the amount authorised in this fiscal is insufficient.
The DIPP is also in charge of the Indian Leather Development Programme (ILDP), Industrial Infrastructure Upgradation Scheme (IIUS), Industrial Development of Backward and Remote Areas (including North East Industrial and Investment Promotion Policy (NEIIPP), Transport Subsidy Scheme, and Special package for Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh & Uttarakhand).
It also administers the Interest Subsidy to Industrial Units in Andhra Pradesh (AP) and Telengana.
The FY’17 Budgetary allocation for ILDP is Rs.300 crore, and IIUS (Rs.152 crore), Backward & Remote Areas Development (Rs.265 crore), and subsidy for AP and Telengana industrial units (Rs.100 crore).
These programmes have a major subsidy element (subsidy for capital investment, interest subsidy on working capital, transport and freight subsidy and reimbursement of insurance premium) as well as income tax and excise duty exemptions. Therefore, the DIPP is of the view that the subsidies should gradually be phased out as they are seen as “inefficient”.
Efficient support
Instead, they said, there should be greater focus on “efficient and long-lasting” support in terms of infrastructure building through industrial corridors to ensure better connectivity to the North East and remote and backward areas of the country.
Discussions are on to streamline these schemes. For instance, the skill development component under the ILDP could be shifted to the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship while many components of the NEIIPP could be transferred to the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region. This will help the DIPP save time and funds which can then be utilised for industrial corridor development and to boost initiatives such as Make In India, Start-up India and IPR policy, they said. In the FY’17 Budget, Make In India has an allocation of Rs.324.35 crore while start-up initiative does not have any separate allocation. With these programmes gaining traction, the DIPP is looking to strengthen them.
IPR policy
Effective implementation of IPR policy by boosting the research and innovation ecosystem is crucial to ensure the success of Make In India and Start-up India programmes, they said. The DIPP, which was administering patents, trademarks, designs and geographical indication, was recently given the charge of more IPRs — copyrights and those related to semiconductor integrated circuits. With these additional responsibilities and the work on roll-out of the IPR policy, the DIPP may need to spend more than the allocated Rs.111 crore in this fiscal, they said.
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