For Setting up of industries in the Union Territory of Pondicherry, the entrepreneur/promoter should undergo various stages of process in the course of issue of permission/clearances/licence from the respective departments and Commune Panchayats/Municipalities before commencement of production.

The promoter desirous of setting up of an industry first get "Provisional Registration Certificate" from the Department of Industries and Commerce. On receipt of the said certificate, the promoter is guided by Technical Staff of District Industries Centre, how to apply and how many copies of applications and plans is required to be sent to Commune Panchayat/Municipality for issue of permission. The application thus received from the promoter either filing through internet or submitting directly to the office, thus received from the promoter after preliminary scrutiny by the technical staff and are subject to inspection of site. After inspection, the DIC will forward the application along with enclosures to the respective Departments and concerned Commune Panchayat/ Municipalities immediately.

The Departments processes the cases and issue clearances, after calling for further details from the promoter if necessary. It is provided in the Act that the Counsel of the Commune Panchayat/Municipality shall grant absolute/conditional permission or refuse within 45 days after receipt of application. Similarly, if the department concerned does not communicate its approval/opinion within 30 days after receipt of applications, it shall be deemed to be cleared/approved. In District Industries Centre, without waiting for the expiry of the time limit for issue of permission/clearance, details of pending cases are collected at the end of each month, from the Commissioner, get the list compared with the file maintained at DIC. The cases for which thirty days have elapsed in the Commissioner's office are brought in the agenda paper duly noting the dates of issue of clearance by the respective Departments and those which are yet to clear.

The District Industries Centre functions like a facilitator between the promoter and the Departments concerned in the issue of clearances/permission/licence to set up industries in this Union Territory. For proper monitoring and adherance to the time limits for processing a case, a committee has been constituted by the Government called "INDUSTRIAL GUIDANCE BUREAU", consisting of various Departments from which clearances/permission/licence is required. The Secretary to Govt. (Industries & Commerce), Govt. of Pondicherry is the Chairman of the Committee and the Director of Industries and Commerce, is the Member Secretary. The Government order on the Constitution of Industrial Guidance Bureau is appended.

The High Level INDUSTRIAL PROMOTION COMMITTEE/Regional Committee meets once in three weeks by duly inviting the entrepreneur/promoter concerned, by sending intimation in advance informing the venue. The problems faced by the entrepreneur/promoter or by the Departments in the issue of clearances/permission/licence are sorted out across the table in a transparent manner facilitating its expeditious services. The INDUSTRIAL PROMOTION COMMITTEE/Regional Committee takes up all the cases in the list for deliberation and decision taken across the table are communicated in the form of Minutes of the meeting to the Departments concerned. As the meeting is convened regularly on the appointed day of each month, none of the applications is left out unprocessed. It is also put up that good number of cases are issued with permission even before the lapse of 30 days. Thus promoters approaching District Industries Centre for local body clearances are guided properly in time and suitably attended to. The system recording the fact of disposal of each case can be readily be seen in the website of industrypondy.com