Arunachal rolls out major deregulation drive to boost investment

Guwahati: The Arunachal Pradesh government has undertaken one of the most comprehensive deregulation exercises in the state's history, systematically reducing compliance burdens across 51 reform areas spanning two phases under the Business Reforms Action Plan (BRAP) framework of the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Government of India.

Of these, 16 priority areas have already been fully implemented and accepted by the Government of India. The reforms span land administration, urban development, labour regulation, environmental clearances, building approvals, education infrastructure and utility connections, touching every dimension of doing business in the state.

The state has introduced a dedicated legislative framework providing self-certification, a three-year inspection moratorium and conditional approvals for eligible small enterprises, significantly reducing the compliance burden on MSMEs. Building regulations for industrial plots have been comprehensively amended, with floor area ratio (FAR), ground coverage, parking norms, height restrictions and minimum plot sizes all rationalised to reduce land loss and improve land utilisation.


Third-party certification for Consent to Establish and Consent to Operate has been introduced. Auto-renewal, self-declaration mechanisms and extended validity tied to the life of the unit have been operationalised for Green and White category industries.

Thirty-two additional industries were added to the White Category list in February 2026, exempting them from prior consent requirements. An end-to-end digital platform for building plan approvals, occupancy certificates and completion certificates has been launched, integrating multiple departmental NOCs into a single workflow, with third-party inspections enabled for low- and medium-risk buildings.

The state has eliminated minimum land ownership requirements for private schools and universities. No infrastructure, equipment or additional compliance requirements beyond those mandated under the Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2009, and by central regulatory and statutory bodies have been imposed on private schools, colleges and higher education institutions, making Arunachal Pradesh one of the least restrictive states for private education investment in the country.

All 17 industrial estates and parks have been integrated with the GIS-based India Industrial Land Bank (IILB) portal, enabling investors to access estate-wise land availability data online.

Trade licence issuance and renewal are now fully online with minimal documentation. Online portals for electricity and water connections are operational, and no permission for groundwater extraction is required for any industry in the state.

These reforms reflect the state government's commitment to building a transparent, efficient and investor-friendly regulatory environment while preserving Arunachal Pradesh's unique ecological, cultural and tribal heritage.