Delhi’s deregulation exercise lags as review flags missing timelines, slow single window integration

The implementation of the Centre’s Phase-II compliance reduction and deregulation exercise was found to be lagging in Delhi, with the Capital ranked last among Union territories for the maximum number of uninitiated action points, according to a June 2026 review report prepared by the Delhi government’s information technology department

The implementation of the Centre’s Phase-II compliance reduction and deregulation exercise was found to be lagging in Delhi, with the Capital ranked last among Union territories for the maximum number of uninitiated action points, according to a June 2026 review report prepared by the Delhi government’s information technology department.

A report identified two key stages: approval to commence construction after an application is filed, and approval to commence operations after construction is completed. (HT Archive)

The report, titled “Monitor and Reduce end-to-end Turnaround Time (TAT) on Single Window System”, said Delhi’s progress under Phase II was “unsatisfactory” at a March review meeting chaired by the chief secretary. The chief secretary directed the IT department to immediately integrate forms into the Delhi Single Window System (DSWS) in consultation with the industries department and other stakeholders.

“The exercise is aimed at addressing a key gap in the existing system that while individual approvals may have specified timelines, the entire investor journey from application to final approval was not being captured,” said an official.

The report identified two key stages: approval to commence construction after an application is filed, and approval to commence operations after construction is completed. It said existing single-window systems track individual approvals but do not provide complete end-to-end visibility.

Under the Centre’s mandate, Delhi has to publish and monitor end-to-end timelines through the single-window system (SWS), record queries, analyse reasons for queries and rejections, and study licence-wise turnaround times. However, the system was not generating enough data to assess actual turnaround times. The industries department said in April that at least six months of portal data would be needed for a meaningful TAT study, according to a Delhi government official aware of the details.

The chief secretary subsequently directed the industries department to launch DSWS at a May 19 meeting. By June 1, 95 services were live on the portal.

The IT department also examined turnaround times for 55 licences and approvals across 19 departments. The exercise resulted in revised timelines for several services, including 23 services for which SLAs had not previously been notified.

The agriculture department reduced timelines for seed-quality sample analysis and licences for fertilisers, insecticides and seeds from 21 to 14 days. DSIIDC cut the timeline for change of constitution from 90 to 45 days and permission to mortgage from 30 to 15 days, the report stated.

The labour department proposed reducing passenger-lift installation approval from 30 to seven days, factory licence registration from 30 to 21 days and factory licence amendments from 60 to 30 days.

PWD proposed reducing its planned dig and monitoring system timeline from 45 to 30 days, while the registrar of cooperative societies proposed reducing registration of cooperative societies from 90 to 45 days. The Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) proposed reductions including 120 to 60 days for ferrous and non-ferrous scrap authorisation and 90 to 60 days for biomedical-waste authorisation.

Power services saw some of the sharper proposed reductions: net-metering applications were reduced from 75 to 25 days, while new electricity connections were proposed to fall from 35 to three days. DDA retained the 120-day timeline for change of land use, with the report saying a reduced TAT may not be feasible because of the statutory processing involved. RERA retained 30 days for registration of builders and real estate agents.

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) proposals included reducing the factory licence from 90 days to instant, while its general trade licence remained instant. Its online building-plan system remained at 59 days.

Overall, the report said 68 of the 95 live services had reduced SLAs, with reductions ranging from 14.3% to 100% or instant issuance. Eight services saw timelines increase after assessment, 11 remained unchanged because of process complexity, while five were found to be duplicate, not applicable or transferred. Three services were assigned timelines where none existed earlier.

The report concluded that most departments initially lacked defined stage-wise timelines. Revised SLAs for 84 services and notification of 23 previously undefined SLAs were being processed.