CII seeks time-bound delivery of services to businesses by ministries

New Delhi: Industry body CII on Sunday called for the enactment of a central legislation to guarantee time-bound delivery of services to businesses by Union ministries, with penalties for delays or deficiencies and a strong grievance redressal framework.

This reform, it argued, is crucial for strengthening regulatory certainty, enhancing predictability and improving the overall ease of doing business in India.

A key challenge remains the uncertainty on timelines for approval, which creates delays and cascading costs. Addressing this issue would strengthen confidence and support more timely and predictable service delivery, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) stated.

"Despite commendable initiatives to mandate timelines in a range of areas, businesses continue to face procedural delays, regulatory uncertainty and non-adherence to timelines, significantly affecting operational efficiency and long-term investment planning. Absence of strictly enforced timelines is also felt in areas such as government refunds, disbursement of funds and subsidies, and raising claims by government departments on returns filed by businesses, which often causes cash flow disruptions and adds to compliance burden and uncertainty," said Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, CII.

While most Indian states have enacted their own Right to Services or Public Services Guarantee Acts, which ensure timely delivery of specified public services to citizens, no such central legislation exists to ensure timely service delivery by central ministries.

"A legislation for time-bound delivery of services at the central level that ensures time-bound and faceless delivery of government services to businesses, with penalties for delays or deficiencies and a strong grievance redressal framework, would address this issue. Such a law would bring legal enforceability and institutional accountability to how public services are delivered to enterprises," Banerjee said.

These services must be delivered within stipulated timelines, with clear tracking and provision of deemed approval in cases where deadlines are breached. Such deemed approvals should hold the same statutory validity as those granted through standard processes and must be enabled through faceless, digital channels to enhance transparency and reduce discretion.

The proposed legislation should also require authorities to record and provide clear reasons for any rejection and establish a strong, multi-tiered grievance redressal system. This could include time-bound appeals, escalation pathways, digital complaint tracking, and compensatory payment in cases of prolonged inaction, CII suggested.

To operationalise this framework for regulatory approvals, renewals, and exits, CII has additionally proposed having a separate legislation for Union ministries and departments mandating that all such services be delivered exclusively through the National Single Window System (NSWS), which is the central digital platform launched in 2021 for regulatory applications across central ministries and states.

While NSWS is a landmark reform, it currently faces limitations due to partial integration by ministries and states. For instance, despite requiring numerous clearances, the Ministry of Labour and Employment currently offers only five approvals on the NSWS platform.

In this context, CII emphasised that NSWS should be the exclusive platform for processing and granting all central approvals.

Granting it a legal status and linking it to the proposed Central Right to Services legislation would establish NSWS as the cornerstone for enforcing timelines, enabling deemed approvals, and providing real-time visibility to both businesses and regulators, CII said.

"Providing statutory backing to NSWS will institutionalise its mandate, ensure universal adoption by central ministries, empower states to notify their rules for integration, and establish NSWS as the single digital interface through which services are applied for and delivered to businesses. This shall ensure that legally mandated timelines are met through a unified, accountable digital platform," said Banerjee.

If developed and implemented effectively, this combined legislative and digital reform has the potential to be a game-changer for India's regulatory ecosystem, the industry lobby said.

As India aspires to become a global manufacturing and investment hub under its India @100 vision, aligning of legal mandates with a fully functional digital backbone will play a pivotal role in enhancing investor confidence and ensuring delivery-driven governance, Banerjee observed.