The government will be unveiling a web portal for start-up enterprises aimed at increasing the ease of doing business in the country by next week, newly appointed secretary of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) Ramesh Abhishek said on Friday.

Speaking at an interaction session organized by Industry body Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industries (Ficci), Abhishek said the government is working with various state governments to clarify the legal, operational and labor regulations of start ups.

Following the row that erupted over the government's proposed move to tax Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) withdrawals and restrict contributions by employers, finance minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday said he would respond to all the concerns that have been raised in his reply to the discussion on the Budget in the House.

"When the debate comes up in Parliament, I will give the government's response as to what decision we finally take," Jaitley said during his post-Budget.

The Commerce and Industry Ministry on Thursday invited applications from companies to be recognized as third party inspecting authorities for the boiler industry, a move aimed at promoting ease of doing business. Third party inspecting authorities, as per the Indian Boilers Regulations (IBR), are allowed to inspect and certify boilers and boiler components. Also, well-known manufactures under IBR are allowed to self-certify products manufactured by them for use in boilers.

The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) said applications are invited from the "eligible companies/ firms for recognition as third party inspecting authorities, competent authority" and well-known material testing lab, steel maker, foundry/forge, tube/pipe maker and remnant life assessment organisation under the Indian Boiler Regulations.

The Union budget is sharply focused on a few key themes, which had already been spelt out by the finance minister earlier. The budget focuses on an efficient and effective government, rationalization of taxation, de-stressing the rural economy with an infusion of funds, soft and hard infrastructure with more than Rs.2.2 trillion in allocations for railways, roads, airports and waterways. It also focuses on human resource development and de-stressing the financial systems. It will be a welcome step to move from a fixed fiscal deficit target to a range, which will provide necessary fiscal space to the government. Overall, the budget’s emphasis is on building the fundamentals of the economy and economic and financial institutions.

The government’s focus in terms of ease of doing business has been not just for corporate entities but also for ordinary people, with attempts being made to remove irritants in their dealings with the government.

The Union budget has a long-term view for the growth of the economy and lays down a clear path of anchoring India’s growth in an uncertain global economic scenario.

It has a number of medium- to long-term measures that are bound to boost the overall industry and investor sentiment. The continued commitment to improve ease of doing business in India along with fostering a conducive environment for research and development is a very positive outcome of the budget. There are a number of well-defined measures for energising key sectors and bringing more and more people into the mainstream economy.

The vitality brought in by venture-funded start-ups has contributed to the positive outlook for the country. Government’s further support to broad-base the start-up phenomenon by focusing on the hitherto disadvantaged groups under the ‘Stand Up India’ initiative is a great beginning.

The Haryana government will bring a new law to simplify regulatory framework for businesses and set up single-point time-bound clearance system to ensure ease of doing business.

The State government has framed the Haryana Enterprises Promotion Bill, 2016, which seeks to provide for simplification of regulatory framework and a single point time-bound clearance system for speedy implementation of industrial and other projects, an official spokesperson said.

The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) aims at improving the failing credit market situation in the country. A healthy credit market functions well where the debtor and the creditor have faith that their interests are recognised and protected under law.

Failure to pay debt is a common occurrence but surprisingly, the law dealing with such situations is under-developed, fragmented and unpredictable, to say the least.

Sometimes, no bad news can be considered as good news.With none of the much-feared negatives making it to the Union Budget (no increase in time frame for long term capital gains or super-rich tax or any hike in basic excise duty, it remained more of a neutral event in my view. 

I term it as neutral because in his second Budget presentation as FM, Jaitley had ample time to deliver a dream Budget - one that would have simplified taxation, guided on GST, reduced corporate tax by 1% as promised and cut on non-Plan expenditure. However, hardly any relief was given on direct Tax (in fact there were some roll-backs for corporates), possibly due to only 6.6% revenue growth, which was half of the budgeted growth.