This paper examines the current status of deregulation at the state level by studying the initial approvals required by a new industrial unit from 10 state government authorities in Goa, gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharshtra. An analysis of the approval process shows that there are many approving authorities. Many of them come in at more stages than one. Approval from one is contingent on approval from several others. Applications for approval are received at the lowest tier and often have to travel upwards through several tiers. Consequently, there are information problems and non-fulfillment of the purposes for which the regulations were instituted in the first instance. The paper proposes several measures to remedy the situation, covering information dissemination, systems, organization and staff motivation.