Streamlining India's Construction Permits: A Path to Growth

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has identified the reform of construction permit processes as pivotal to India's economic growth, despite significant progress in improving business ease. CII points out that building approvals remain cumbersome, with many states facing issues of complexity and transparency.

To address this, CII suggests reforms such as robust online single-window systems for submissions and tracking applications, automated building plan approvals, and faceless processes to ensure legally binding timelines. A unified state authority should streamline fire safety, environmental, and utility approvals through joint site inspections, reducing redundancy.

Ajay Shriram, Chairman of CII's Ease of Doing Business Task Force, highlights the need for reforms to eliminate procedural delays that challenge India's infrastructure ambitions. Recommendations include digital timelines for approvals, pre-approved design templates, and a National Construction Permitting Reform Index to monitor state performance. India's global ranking improvement in construction permits underscores the positive impact of such reforms.