Delayed by a debate over offering fiscal sops to attract industry and the economic compulsion of no funds, Punjab’s new industrial policy unveiled this month finally decided to steer clear of any additional financial burden. Never mind that the state is shelling out Rs 3 crore for hiring consultants, Ernst and Young, on a three-year contract to give shape to the information technology (IT) policy and has spent Rs 14 lakh this month on newspaper advertisements to highlight the policy.

While the bottle is costlier, most of the proposals in the much-hyped new policy are like old wine. Even the key reforms proposed by the study sponsored by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and Union Ministry’s Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) — at a cost of $40,000 — to help Punjab give shape to its new policy are missing in the final draft. Stating that sops for the farm sector were proving a bane for the state’s industry, the UNIDO report drafted by its consultant Isher Judge Ahluwalia had proposed to do away with free power for the sector. Also, while the focus of the new policy is on agro-industry, UNIDO’s suggestion to introduce model act for agro-marketing to usher in private investment into the state, has not been heeded.

Here’s a look at what changed between the old and new policies.

No change of land use (CLU) for new industry:There were no CLU permission and charges for industry before 2007. These were imposed by the SAD-BJP Government after coming to power; the new policy has only rolled it back.

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