UP tops list of business-friendly states, implemented reforms in 23 areas

Uttar Pradesh has emerged as the leading state in implementing reforms for making business operations simpler, transparent and investment-friendly in the 23 key priority areas identified by the Centre, officials said on Monday. As per the state-wise ranking under the 'Deregulation 1.0' report of the central government, the state has been ranked first, a statement issued in Lucknow said. The assessment focused on the effective implementation of 23 priority reform areas spanning five major sectors -- land, building and construction, labour, utilities and permissions -- along with overarching reform priorities.

Under the land-related reforms, the state adopted a flexible zoning framework enabling mixed-use development, simplified and digitised the land-use change process and rationalised minimum road width norms for industries in rural areas, it noted."In the building and construction sector, building regulations were amended to reduce land loss in both industrial and commercial plots. The role of empanelled third parties was enhanced in building approvals, joint inspections, fire inspections and online issuance of occupancy and completion certificates, thereby significantly reducing approval timelines," the statement read.

Major labour reforms included the removal of restrictions on women working in certain hazardous industries, permitting night-time employment of women across factories, shops and commercial establishments and rationalisation of working hour limits.The threshold for compliance under the Shops and Establishments Act was also raised to 20 workers or more. "Further, the state enabled third-party certification for environmental consents, simplified factory and trade license approvals through online systems, expedited electricity and water connections via integrated digital platforms and reclassified non-polluting industries under the White category," the statement added.