New Delhi, April 19 (NationPress) Streamlined and transparent access to industrial land is essential for boosting investments, minimizing project gestation timelines, and establishing India as a formidable global manufacturing center, according to a recent report by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

The document, titled “CII Land Mission: Framework to Reform Industrial Land Management in India,” provides a strategic framework to tackle the structural and procedural hurdles within India’s industrial land landscape.

“India's aspirations in manufacturing through initiatives like Make in India, National Industrial Corridors, renewable energy growth, and advanced logistics will remain unachievable unless industrial land is accessible, transparent, and prepared for investment,” stated Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General of CII.

“The CII Land Mission offers a pragmatic, execution-focused framework that honors social safeguards while boosting time efficiency, predictability, and coordination throughout the land value chain,” he added.

Industrial land is a vital component for sectors such as manufacturing, infrastructure, renewable energy, and logistics.

Currently, the situation across states is marked by fragmented procedures, regulatory complexities, ambiguous land titles, delayed possession, and underuse of allocated land.

These issues substantially inflate capital costs, postpone project launches, and diminish investor confidence, particularly affecting MSMEs and greenfield projects.

The report conducts a thorough evaluation of the entire industrial land lifecycle, including land search and identification, application, allotment, changes in land use (CLU), title verification, acquisition, physical possession, post-allocation usage, and institutional capability.

A significant proposal from the report is the establishment of a unified, GIS-enabled National Industrial Land Bank, which would provide real-time data on land availability, zoning conditions, utility connections, environmental limitations, encumbrances, and title clarity.

This platform would greatly improve transparency and facilitate quicker, informed investment decisions.

The report also suggests a fully integrated digital single-window system for industrial land applications.

This system would unify approvals across various departments, standardize paperwork, allow real-time tracking, and introduce clear service-level agreements (SLAs), including automatic approvals for non-sensitive clearances. Appointing a dedicated case owner for each application would further enhance accountability and decrease inter-departmental delays, as noted in the report.

“The challenge with industrial land encompasses not only acquisition but also readiness and utilization. Even after allotment, projects often face delays due to possession complications, infrastructural deficiencies, unclear titles, and prolonged downstream approvals,” remarked TV Narendran, Chairman of the CII Land Mission and Past President of CII.

The Land Mission recommendations emphasize comprehensive reform, covering everything from clean land banks and quicker acquisition processes to utilization standards, dispute resolution, and institutional accountability.

The report also highlights significant variance in stamp duty and registration fees across states, which inflates initial project costs and skews investment decisions geographically. CII has proposed the implementation of a standardized, nationally guided stamp duty for industrial land, aimed at lowering transaction costs, enhancing predictability, and ensuring that investment choices are driven by economic fundamentals rather than regulatory loopholes.

At the institutional level, CII has recommended the formation of a National Industrial Land Council (NILC), modeled after a GST-like framework, to establish national benchmarks, harmonize state regulations related to land, oversee implementation, and serve as a dispute resolution entity.