The Union Government, in its bid to bring more discipline in various sectors, mulls to set up regulatory bodies for Automobiles, Coal, Nuclear Power and Railways sector.

The Department of Heavy Industry is working on a proposal for establishing the National Automotive Board (NAB) which will be a specialised body for promoting sustainable development of the Indian auto sector. The NAB is likely to be set up in December 2011.

In the Energy sector, the government proposes to set up a Coal Regulatory Authority to regulate and conserve resources in the coal sector, protect the interests of consumers and producers of coal and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto. Also, on the anvil is an independent body, in place of the existing Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB). The proposed Nuclear Regulatory Authority of India, which has received the Cabinet nod will have full power to stop construction work and also order a shut down of an operating nuclear plant. Besides, the bill has a provision of penalty and imprisonment up to six months in the wake of non-compliance. It is proposed that the regulator's order cannot be challenged in a court of law. The regulatory authority will get government funding and will also have independent Research and Development back-up. The AERB, which reports to the Atomic Energy Commission, will be subsumed under the new regulatory authority.

In a related development, the government has allowed duty-exempted import of equipment by the power project developers on the basis of a provisional certificate. With this development, the developers will not have to wait for a formal 'mega' tag for availing the duty exemption they are entitled to on imports of power equipment. According to the ministry's revised guidelines, a provisional mega power project certificate will be considered where the developer has signed contracts with manufacturers for supply of equipment required for the project and paid not less than 10 per cent advance. The developer could take delivery of the equipment within nine months from the date of provisional mega power certificate. Developers of 1,000 MW coal based power projects and 500 MW hydro electric projects are entitled to get exemption in customs and excise duties under the mega power project policy. Further, the government plans to set up National High Speed Rail Authority (NHSRA) for planning, standard setting, implementing and monitoring of High Speed Rail projects (HSRL). Consultant for the same has been appointed to advise the ministry on the subject. The ministry is likely to conduct prefeasibility studies to introduce High Speed Passenger Trains in the country.

In the SEZ sector, the government is likely to issue new norms for the information technology and IT enabled service units. With the new norms, the IT SEZ units will be allowed the same tax concessions as given to developers of SEZs, if they float a different entity to carry on the functions of the latter and build the specific zone according to their needs. So, IT companies will play the role of a co-developer and, based on that, be entitled to the benefits the developer gets. They will be allowed to sublease vacant spaces within their campuses. Presently, units are not allowed to lease out any portion of their premises.

Also, the government has set up a four member team to finalise a policy on captive ports. Under the draft policy, companies in port based industry, which are dependent on port facilities for their business, especially for importing raw material or exporting products, are eligible to set up captive ports. On the state level, the Karnataka Government proposes to draft an exclusive land policy for allotment of land for wind energy projects in order keep a tap on the non-serious players. The policy will be announced in the next two to three months.

On the other hand, the Jammu and Kashmir Government (J&K) has approved hydroelectric project development policy 2011 to exploit state's huge hydel potential of 20,000 MW of power. Under the policy, the state government has approved a multi-pronged strategy for setting up the power projects purely as state projects, through the JV mechanism in PPP mode and on BOOT basis.