PUTUO District has released a series of new industrial policies to better serve companies and further optimize its business environment.

The preferential policies and measures, including Shangahi’s first “one-stop integrated service platform” for companies, will come into effect from March 15. They cover enterprise services, technological innovation, talent training and industrial development, which are key to the development of enterprises.

Putuo has made “optimizing business environment” one of its top tasks this year to lure more multinational enterprises, industrial leaders and leading startups to make a base in the district.

Some 300 government and company officials attended a conference on February 28, where the district government officially publicized the new policies and awarded the top 100 enterprises based in Putuo.

Zhou Minhao, the director of Putuo, said the companies have contributed a lot to the district’s economic and social development.

“Putuo’s regional economy maintained steady growth in 2017 with a district-level annual revenue of 10.81 billion yuan (US$1.7 billion), or a 7 percent increase on year,” Zhou told the conference at the Shanghai Convention & Exhibition Center of International Sourcing along the Suzhou Creek.

Putuo government will continue providing “excellent services” to enterprises, and will strive to create the top standard business environment to benefit the enterprises, he revealed.

New policies

The newly released policies including three inclusive policies to benefit all the Putuo-registered enterprises on company services, technological innovation and talent development.

Another five industrial policies will mainly support the key industries of the district, including finance, culture, professional services, intellectual manufacturing and robotics as well as online gaming.

A swathe of other preferential policies and measures will be carried out to further support and benefit the enterprises with outstanding performances on energy saving as well as emission and carbon reductions.

“These measures and policies can solve lots of problems for us, especially on imports and exports, school enrollment of our children and residence permits issues,” said Sun Jian’an, executive vice president with China National Building Material Co.

The state-owned enterprise has been based in Putuo since 2000 with over 500 employees. It contributed over 100 million yuan in taxes to the district government last year.

The CNBM plans to build a national level photoelectric equipment research center in Putuo due to the district’s considerate services and business environment.

Yang Guoping, the chairman of Shanghai Dazhong Gas Co., said the district government has not only offered supportive policies but also professional guidance on the company’s development information and intelligence technologies.

The gas supplier for over 1.7 million households in the west part of the city has established an information center on Anyuan Road in Putuo, which can collect gas usage of the households automatically, according to Yang.

Meanwhile, the Putuo government has committed on the conference to offer “simpler approval process, stricter oversight and better services” to companies. The government released 21 key tasks on administrative approval, in-process and afterwards oversight as well as professional services to better serve companies.

Innovative supervision methods, for instance, will be applied to emerging businesses such as the online food delivery platforms, said Gu Jianzhong, director of the development and reform commission. Simplified procedures of administrative review and speed-up approval procedures will be applied to business startups.

As a highlight among the new measures, the district launched the city’s first integrated “one-stop service station” for new enterprises with the combination of its existing online service platform and district’s administrative service hall.

Business application licenses

The companies’ staff only need to come to the service hall once to complete the necessary application procedures for startups such as business license and digital license applications, said Tang Min, deputy director with the Investment Development Department of Putuo.

“I receive the business license within three days after applying online and submitting some paper documents to the administrative service hall,” said an official with newly established Pule company management company.

It used to take eight working days and needed the evaluation of three departments before a business license can be approved.

In the next step, the district government will provide an even simpler online platform to cover all the services through a “single window” for companies.

They will be able to make applications and get replies through the online platform.

Compared to previous policies, for a better business environment, the new round of measures focus more on the leading enterprises, emerging industries as well as excellent professionals.

The regional headquarters and foreign research centers, for instance, can receive further subsidies from the district government apart from the supportive funds from the city government. Outstanding medium and small-size enterprises can also get subsidized.

The emerging industries such as new scientific finance firms or platforms for merger and acquisition finance will also be strongly supported. They can not only receive a sum of subsidy from the district, but also compete for a 5-million-yuan annual award with its counterparts.

The Internet film companies can be awarded according to the box office of its works. Those who develop cutting-edge robots or automatic systems with intellectual property rights will also be awarded.

The district currently features 17 major research institutes with national influence, such as the Shanghai Electrical Apparatus Research Institute (Group) Co and China Electronics Technology Group Corporation, as well as two major universities, the Tongji University and East China Normal University. Thirty-four robotic industries and related companies are also based in Putuo.

Attract talent

Furthermore, the newly released policies aim to attract more professionals from both home and abroad, Gu said.

The district will support and award the outstanding entrepreneurs, business managers, scientists and highly skilled personnel.

Subsidies will be offered to the top talent, such as the winner of the Noble Prize and the members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Engineering, as well as the professionals of China’s Recruitment Program of Global Experts.

The senior managers and management teams of outstanding companies will be offered housing subsidies and get accommodated in the talent apartment built by the district government, according to the policy.

“A better ‘talent environment’ will also be created in Putuo to solve their common concerns on housing, children’s education, medical insurance and residence permits applications,” Gu added.