New Delhi [India], August 28 : The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has highlighted that simplifying and reforming the process of obtaining construction permits is key to India's growth journey. In a press release, CII said that while India has made major strides in improving ease of doing business, the process of securing building approvals remains slow, complex, and often non-transparent in many states.
The industry body has laid out several reforms it believes are essential. These include creating strong online single window systems for submitting and tracking applications, introducing automated building plan approvals through software, ensuring legally binding timelines, and faceless approvals.
The report stated, "A unified state-level authority should oversee integration and smooth functioning of all approvals, including fire safety, environmental clearances and utility connections, across departments within this system."
Another reform suggested is the idea of conducting a single joint site inspection by all authorities together. This, CII said, would cut down redundancy and make the process much quicker. It also called for conditional approvals in cases of minor gaps in paperwork, instead of outright rejection, and allowing quick online corrections in building plans.
Ajay Shriram, Chairman of CII Task Force on Ease of Doing Business and Chairman & Sr. Managing Director of DCM Shriram Ltd, said: "While India's infrastructure ambitions largely centre around agile and transparent construction permits ecosystem, fragmented approvals and procedural delays surrounding it continue to pose challenges for industry across majority of states. We compliment the government of India for placing this as one of the high priority areas for deregulation and facilitation."
He added that adopting these reforms would reduce bottlenecks, promote transparency, and encourage investments, while boosting investor confidence.
The release recommended strict digital timelines for each stage of approval, with time stamps on every file movement. "For residential buildings, plotted layouts and small commercial spaces, pre-approved standardized design templates should be developed," the release said.
An added recommendation was the creation of a "National Construction Permitting Reform Index" to benchmark states on approval timelines, transparency, and digital readiness. As per CII this index should be updated in real-time using data from state-level online systems.
India's progress in this area is visible in the World Bank's Doing Business Report, where the country's global ranking for construction permits improved sharply from 185th in 2017 to 27th in 2020. Still, the release noted that more work remains for most states to fully digitize and simplify the process.