A draft report by the Comptroller & Auditor General of India (CAG) had pointed out the decline in the number of combined application forms (CAFs) from investors received by Ipicol from 2010-11 onwards.
As against 87 CAFs received in 2010-11, Ipicol received 48 in 2011-12 that plummeted further to 20 in 2012-13. In the last fiscal, the agency received 26 proposals.
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"The decline in receipt of CAF is due to worldwide recession across sectors and other factors not connected with Ipicol. Now, the focus of investment promotion has moved to downstream/ancillary and non-mineral industries", Ipicol said in its compliance report to the office of the CAG.
Ipicol said during 2005-09, Odisha received the most number of investment proposals related to sectors like steel, power, aluminium and cement. The proposals received depend on factors like availability of raw material, infrastructure and sector specific focus of industry.
In its draft report, the central auditor had pointed out that up to 2012-13, 57 proposals involving investment of Rs 2.79 lakh crore were deferred by the task force or State Level Single Window Clearance Authority (SLSWCA) without assigning any recorded reasons.
Moreover, 66 proposals involving investment of Rs 55314 crore were not put up before the task force for want of further information from the promoters.
In its reply, Ipicol clarified that the major reasons for deferment of proposals are non-availability of land and water at the locations proposed by project proponents. The respective task forces on steel, power and cement while deferring the proposals have stressed on obtaining confirmation from the water resources department on availability of water before placing the proposals again for consideration.
The audit report had pointed to the delay in grounding of investments. Out of 236 proposals with potential investment of Rs 8.2 lakh crore, only 67 projects (or 28 per cent) with an investment of Rs 1.54 lakh crore had gone into production till 2013-14.
Out of 236 approved project proposals, 69 units are in the process of land acquisition ranging from 18 to 105 months after their approval, indicating lack of follow up and assistance by Ipicol to address the difficulty.