Sri Vijaya Puram, Dec 16: In order to enhance and attract greater investment in the UT of A&NI especially in the MSME sector, the UT Administration under Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) is streamlining regulatory structures and creating an investor-friendly business climate.
In order to meet the objectives of Ease of Doing Business (EoDB), the following steps were undertaken:
1. National Single Window System (NSWS):
• 105 KYA (Know Your Approvals) pertaining to A&N Islands were soft launched in NSWS portal: www.nsws.gov.in.
• 29 services pertaining to 7-line departments are delivered exclusively through NSWS portal. These services include Licenses under Factories Act 1948, Shops and Establishment Regulation 2004, Fire NOC, obtaining new Electricity Connections, enrolment of tour operators and travel agents, Application for new fair price shop allotment etc.
• 26 services have been identified for on-boarding in the NSWS Portal in the 2nd Phase.
• All the aforesaid services pertaining to ANI are made operational through NSWS portal to ensure one-stop-shop for investors for tracking all the regulatory approvals and services.
2. Reduction of Compliance Burden (RCB)
• Under RCB, the modes of delivery of 50 business/industry centric services and 32 citizen centric services were rationalized by digitizing/reducing the documentary requirements of the services, such as Fire Clearance Certificate, Obtaining Electric Connection, Payment of Property tax, Building Plan Approval, Commercial Water Connection etc.
3. Decriminalization of Minor Offences
Andaman & Nicobar Islands being an UT without Legislature comes under the purview of the Central Acts/Rules and Regulations promulgated under Article 240 of the Constitution.
i. Central Acts and Rules: 89 provisions of Central Acts and Rules were identified, out of which 57 provision were proposed to be retained.
• 01 provision of Labour department has been decriminalized
• 31 provisions are under process for decriminalization, comprising 30 provisions of the Labour Department for which the rules as per the new Labour Codes have been drafted and sent to Ministry of Labour and Employment for concurrence.
ii. Regulations notified under Article 240: Total 33 provisions were identified, out of which 27 provisions were proposed to be retained. 6 provisions of the revenue department are under process for decriminalization.
The Law Department, A&N Administration is also working on reducing compliance and introduce a regulation similar to Jan Viswas Act to decriminalize minor offences, impose civil penalties, and remove outdated legal provisions. 06 Regulations have been identified for the proposed A&N Islands Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Regulation 2025. The draft regulation was approved by HLG and is under submission with MHA. The 06 regulations for amendment are:
1. The A&N Islands (Municipal) Regulation, 1994. (To amend)
2. The A&N Islands Co-operative Societies Regulation, 1973. (To amend)
3. The A&N Islands Home Guards Regulation, 1964. (To amend)
4. The A&N Islands (Regulation of Traffic and Preservation of Order in Public places) Regulation, 1966. (To repeal)
5. The A&N Islands Juvenile Smoking Regulation, 1955. (To repeal)
6. The A&N Islands Opium Smoking (Prohibition) Regulation, 1955. (To repeal)
4. Business Reform Action Plan (BRAP)
• UT of ANI has been participating in the annual exercise of the Business Reforms Action Plan conducted by the Department for Promotion of Industries and Internal Trade (DPIIT) since 2015-16.
• Till date, 1207 evidences were submitted in the BRAP Portal during the period since 2015 to 2024.
• The UT’s ranking improved from 31 to 22 in BRAP (2019-20) and was placed as “Emerging Business Ecosystem” in BRAP (2020-2021).
• During BRAP 2022 exercise, Andaman & Nicobar Islands was felicitated as “Top Achiever in Two Citizen Centric Reform Areas”.
• During BRAP 2024 exercise, Andaman & Nicobar Islands was categorised as “Aspirers”.
• BRAP 2026 Implementation Guidebook was received during Nov 2025 which shall be segregated and shared with the concerned line department for implantation within the timelines.
Under EoDB, the Revenue Department, A&N Islands vide its order dated 05.06.2025 has discontinued the issuance of Valuation Certificate, No Dues Certificate and Non-Encumbrance Certificate for Land Registration and a self declaration mechanism has been adopted. Further, Renewal of Boat License, annual survey of vessels and practice of issuing license to private persons for sale of petroleum and diesel has been discontinued.
5. District Business Reform Action Plan (DBRAP) 2025
The vision of DBRAP is to establish a transparent and efficient regulatory environment at the district level that supports local investment, economic activity, and employment generation. The District BRAP 2025 was received from DPIIT vide DO letter dt 02.09.2025 consisting of 154 Reform Points spread across six areas for implementation during the period of 15th August 2025 to 14th August 2026. The DBRAP reforms point were segregated and shared with the concerned implementing line departments for implementation and necessary action as per the timeline.
6. Compliance Reduction and Deregulation:
A Task Force chaired by the Cabinet Secretary has been set up to support States/UTs in simplifying regulations under Ease of Doing Business. For ANI, 23 priority and 71 sub-priority areas were identified across Land Use, Construction, Labour, Utilities, and Overarching reforms.
The Task Force on Compliance Reduction and Deregulation, Cabinet Secretariat, New Delhi visited these Islands first on 22nd March 2025. During the visit, meetings were held with stakeholders and Senior Officials of various department. The 2nd visit of the Task Force and meetings with the Industry Associations and Departments was held on 22nd July, 2025.
In the meantime, regular review meetings with the line departments under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary and Secretary (Industries) were conducted for implementation of the 23 Priority Areas identified by the Task Force and to ensure completion of its milestones within the timelines.
Status of Priority areas under Task Force on Compliance Reduction and Deregulation :
• 23 priority areas accepted as “Agreed but under Implementation” by the Deregulation Cell, Cabinet Secretariat
• 20 Priority Areas Implemented
• 03 Priority Areas under submission with MHA
Some of the key initiatives implemented under Compliance Reduction and Deregulation Exercise includes:
• CLU permission has been resumed
• Online portal with GIS databank for Industrial Estates of ANI
• Administrative Order was issued to reduce the time limit for Registration of Shop and commercial establishments from 15 days to 07 days. Self-inspections and thirdparty accreditation inspections for Shop Registration implemented.
• Andaman and Nicobar Islands Factories Rules, 1970 was amended on 08.08.2025 to allows employment of women in certain ‘hazardous’ industries’, allow night time employment of women (7 PM to 10 PM) and increased the renewal period of the Factory License from 01 year to 05 years.
• Administrative Orders were issued under Factories Act to increase working hour limits for factories as under:
• daily regular hours from 9 to 10 hours,
• spread over from 10.5 to 12 hours and
• maximum period of continuous work before mandated rest from 5 to 6 hours.
• ANPCC has increased White Category list to 195 industries, adopted self-certification, for orange and green category industries in CTO/CTE and number of required documents has been reduced from 09 to 06.
• The online Portal for water connection (https://jalseva.andamannicobar.gov.in) and for electricity connection (https://andssw1.and.nic.in:8081/EMCOSP/index.php) along with online electricity estimate payment system is live.
• Issuance of digitally signed Completion/Occupancy Certificates via DigiLocker was successfully integrated. Applicants can now access their Building Plan Sanction Orders and Occupancy Certificates directly in their DigiLocker accounts once issued by the department in OBPAS portal (https://pbmc-obpas.com).
• A&N Islands Shops and Establishment (Amendment) Regulation, 2025 was notified on 20.11.2025 allowing simplified registration requirement with minimum threshold of workers increased to 20 or more, removal of renewal process, enabling night time employment of women and increased Daily Hours limit from 9 to 10 hrs with a minimum rest of 30 minutes at any point in the shift.
• The Industrial Dispute (Andaman and Nicobar Islands Amendment) Regulation, 2025 was notified on 20.11.2025 allowing increased threshold from 100 to 300 workers for prior permission for closure, retrenchment and layoff.
• The Factories (Andaman and Nicobar Islands Amendment) Regulation, 2025 was notified on 20.11.2025 allowing Night time employment of women in factories and increased quarterly overtime hours from 75 to 144 hrs.
• Two notifications were issued incorporating modifications in the Master Plan for Sri Vijaya Puram Planning Area and Sri Vijaya Puram Municipal Council (SVPMC) Building Bye-laws vide Gazette No. 112 & 113 respectively dated 11.12.2025.
The efforts of the A&N Administration in the Deregulation exercise were commended vide the Cabinet Secretary’s DO letter dt 21.07.2025.
