Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami has announced a new scheme, the ‘Direct CTO scheme for Green Industries’ to relax the process for pre-establishment clearances for green category industries. Under the new scheme, the green industries just need to apply for consent to establish, and don’t have to wait till obtaining final approvals to commence construction work.
“This would benefit over 63 types of green industries,” the Chief Minister said while addressing industry captains at the 125thyear celebrations of the Confederation of Indian Industry that was held in Chennai on Thursday. He also announced an initiative for land use re-classification in non-plan areas. “Land use re-classification for non-plan areas will be given deemed approval, if the applications in full shape, cross the timeline,” he said. Earlier, approvals used to take six months to two years. Now it will be possible to get it in 50 days. Mr. Palaniswami also highlighted CII’s role during the global investors meet that was held in 2015 and 2019.
Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit, said, “I am extremely delighted to note that the Southern States have consistently scored high in the country on key economic and social indicators with the help of the government’s policy initiatives.” The Southern States contribute about 30% to India’s GDP. Especially, Tamil Nadu ranks first among the States in terms of number of factories and industrial workers. The governor requested industrialists to take initiatives and have more MoUs with government universities in Tamil Nadu. “You need skilled and well-trained people and if the Universities modify their curriculum accordingly, the effort will enhance the employability of students and accelerate industry growth,” he said.
Shobana Kamineni, past president, CII and executive vice chairperson of Apollo Hospitals Enterprises Ltd, spoke about gender inequalities and said that it was time for the industry and government to act now. “Indian economy could get 27% richer if we could bridge those inequalities,” she said.
The journey (CII) began in 1895 when 5 engineering firms, all members of the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry, joined hands to form the Engineering and Iron Trades Association (EITA). Till 1942, IEA was the only all-India association of engineering industries and represented mainly big engineering companies, particularly the British firms. This led to a situation where the interests of the Indian firms (mainly medium and small scale) were not sufficiently represented. Thus the Engineering Association of India (EAI) was established in 1942 as an affiliate of the Indian Chamber of Commerce. EAI represented small and medium engineering firms mostly owned and promoted by Indians.
In 1912, there was a change in name from EITA to IEA. In April 1974, the two associations -- IEA and EAI -- merged to form the Association of Indian Engineering Industry (AIEI). In 1991, industrial licensing was abolished and economic reforms on a wide scale started taking shape. With effect from January 1, 1992, in keeping with the government's decision to opt for the liberalisation of the Indian economy, the name of CEI was changed to Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
