The ministry of corporate affairs is contemplating creating a special purpose vehicle (SPV) for their mega project ?Next Generation MCA 21? which means that there would be no bids invited from the IT firm for the over Rs 500-crore project. This would come as a dampener for IT firms, which have increasingly started looking at domestic orders. In fact, country’s largest software firm, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) had been eyeing the project as it currently manages the MCA 21 portal. Salman Khurshid, minister of corporate affairs told FE, ?We are thinking on having a special purpose vehicle and not go in for the bidding process for the next-generation MCA 21, which is many steps ahead of the present MCA-21 but we will take a final call only after consulting some other ministries”.
Next Generation MCA 21 is supposed to be an advanced information sharing system with regulators like Sebi, RBI and government ministries to replace the present MCA- 21 which is the e-governance database for the 9-lakh companies in India.
A senior MCA official told FE, ?The ministry wants to have an SPV because it does not want to get fully dependent on an IT company for managing its operations. In case of MCA 21, which is the e-governance mode through which companies file their documents online is handled by the Tata Consultancy Services which is the private partner in MCA 21.?
The MCA official further said that in case of SPV, the ministry would appoint atleast 50 to 60 people who will undertake the in-house management and could also outsource some activities if the ministry wants.?
On the issue of the initiatives that would be undertaken by the ministry for creating the SPV, the official noted, ?The ministry has not yet decided on the structure of the SPV, the sources of funds and the scope of the work .?
The focus for the Next Generation MCA-21 would be to create an information sharing platform with regulators and ministries to provide an early warning system for the ministry. The website will have an integrated IT gateway system with regulators and other ministries and it would have a direct access to the information that lies with others.
