Jaipur, Jan 12 (IANS): The Rajasthan government is committed to facilitate ease of doing business and help industries become competitive. The state government has set up a single-window system in which officials from 14 departments are providing permissions in 100 different areas related to industries. MSMEs can avail permissions easily through the Raj portal without having to run around to different offices.

During 2019-2020, RIICO received investments of Rs 1400 crores from the auction of industrial plots via e-auction. This was informed by Rajasthan Minister for Industry Parsadi Lal Meena while addressing a webinar on "Challenges in Sourcing Cheaper Electricity for Industries" on Tuesday.

The webinar was organised by FICCI Rajasthan State Council, in association with Indian Energy Exchange Limited.

Managing Director, Rajasthan Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd, Rohit Gupta said that electricity cost is a major input in the overall cost of industries. Electricity cost in Rajasthan is higher as compared to other states due to the financial position of the power discoms which is linked to the consumer mix of the state.

The department is planning to look into areas like access to rebates, making timely payments to the generators, operational efficiency of thermal plants, etc. to reduce the overall procurement cost, he said.

Head-Business Development & SVP, Indian Energy Exchange, Rohit Bajaj said that high Cross Subsidy Surcharge, 24-hour scheduling restriction, uniform scheduling for at least 8 hours, minimum 1 MW contract demand for availing open access, among others are key issues for open access in Rajasthan.

Bajaj said that industries can avail of power procurement options like long-term for more than 7 years, medium term from 1 year to 5 years, short term for up to 1 year. The most preferred option is, however, the Power Exchange option which is a highly liquid and transparent marketplace.

Partner, Deloitte, Anujesh Dwivedi said that open access is an option to purchase cheaper electricity. It allows the consumer to purchase electricity directly from power generators, traders or exchange. In Rajasthan, open access will have a positive impact on additional job opportunities and state wise share in incremental GDP.

There is a need to initiate discussions between the Department, Rajasthan Electricity Regulatory Commission (RERC), Power Discoms on how open access can be effectively resolved. Furthermore, there is also a need to establish a road map for implementing provisions related to Open Access under the Rajasthan Industrial Development policy 2019, he added.

Earlier, delivering the welcome remarks, Chairman, FICCI Rajasthan State Council &, CMD, Kajaria Ceramics Ltd, Ashok Kajaria said that as industrial activity resumes after Covid there is a need to fight the slowdown and attract new investments to the state. For this, the reduction of operating cost, especially electricity cost, can help in the growth of industries. Rajasthan can look into the best practices being adopted by other states.

Chairman, FICCI Rajasthan Sub-committee on MSMEs, N K Jain proposed the vote of thanks at the webinar.