Following the 12th September guidelines issued by MOEF through Government of India Gazette No ‘2625’, the activities to put up wood panel industries is gaining traction. The industries that have been made free from license as ‘mentioned in Government of India Gazette’ like pasting units for Plywood, Block boards and MDF are interpreted to be free from any licensing compulsion if they are using any band saw, re-saw or circular saw of diameter below 12 inches.
The new guideline is certainly opening free from the binding of getting the license for these as it was earlier. The change is slowly building up eagerness and creating buzz among existing industries and entrepreneurs to put up such units who are license free e.g. Decorative ply, Flush doors, Boards, Particle boards, MDF, Plywood etc though none of these will be able to put any peeling, slicing or band saw for larger girth logs without obtaining license.
In the present situation, UP State Level Committee is said to be analyzing the new policy changes are readying their plan for issuing new licenses on the basis of timber availability in the state. The license for any wood-based industry that requires full fledge peeling, slicing or above 30 cm diameter will be decided after SLC estimation of timber availability in the state and the necessary formats to gather required process is said to be being made. According to unconfirmed sources in Lucknow and experts who are running wood panel industries in Uttar Pradesh, there is no freedom for any large-scale plywood or peeling factories or expansion of existing new plywood units and if it is so, it will be done only after a few months once the policy framework to issue new licenses are readied.
Mr. Sanjay Garg (Chairman, SRG Plywood, Hapur); Uttar Pradesh has potential to become a plywood and panel exporting state to other states and countries. If the State government is taking any step to free the industries to work on a larger scale then I would call it a welcome step for the nation. There will be a crowd and hence problems too will emerge due to competition but if the state decides to open up few more licenses then it will be a beneficial step for farmers too.
Mr. Ashok Agarwal (President, Awadh Plywood Manufacturers Association, Lucknow): The government is doing its genuine effort to give a free the work environment for wood-based industries and the recent notification by MOEF establish the need of the hour. The opening up of licenses will end the greed and possession of factories in only a few hands and will provide a fair chance to able and deserving entrepreneurs. I welcome the step that is being taken to create ‘ease of doing business environment’.
Mr. Ashok Agarwal (President, UP Plywood Manufacturers Association, Shahjahanpur): The situation in UP will change if the wood-based industries are free to put up units. Although there are no big relief on putting up wood based industries. SLC is already initiating the process for gathering information on existing plywood production capacity and wood demand analysis. Let us hope that situation becomes clean and transparent for all.
Mr. Umesh Nemani (MD, Pashupati Everest Plywood Pvt Ltd): There are hopes that UP state will consider the genuine application according to wood availability in the state and allow the new licenses according to that. I believe it will take some time to clear the doubts and within 2-3 months we all will be having new opportunities to explore.