In order to fasten the registration process, the micro, small and medium enterprises have asked the government to facilitate online registration.

The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Act 2006 stipulates small entrepreneurs have to get registered with district industries centre (DIC) of their respective district by submitting the form either personally or through post. Although, for micro and small enterprises the registration is optional, medium enterprises engaged in manufacturing have to register necessarily. ?Although the forms for getting entrepreneur memorandum number (given at the time of registration) are available online, DICs do not accept the downloaded forms and insist on buying them.

The officials also ask for bribes to accept the duly-filled forms, harassing small entrepreneurs. The solution to this is to allow online registration of MSMEs,? Faridabad Small Scale Industries Association President Rajiv Chawla said Entrepreneur Memorandum (EM) number acts as the identity of an MSME. Such a practice by DIC officials averts MSMEs from getting registered, Federation of Indian Small and Medium Enterprises (FISME) said.

?Enterprises choose to stay unregistered, than to face the difficulties of registration. This also limits the credibility of government data and ability to ascertain and improve the functioning of existing schemes and formulate new ones,? FISME secretary-general Anil Bhardwaj said. According to FISME estimation, there are 130 lakh MSMEs in India, but only 10% of them are registered.

The issue came up for discussion at the meeting of Advisory Committee of MSME Ministry in the Capital on September 19. MSME secretary Dinesh Rai, Development Commissioner (MSME) Jawahar Sircar, Anil Bhardwaj and representatives of Planning Commission attended the meeting. ?The committee has in-principle agreed to look at the demand of the industry,? Bhardwaj said.

A government official said some of the states have gone ahead with making the process online and the Centre is talking with various other states. ?Andhra Pradesh is among the states that are proactive on allowing online registration,? he said on the condition of anonymity.

Seeking to reduce the paper work and facilitate easy registration, FISME also demanded that chartered accountants should be allowed to certify the financial details and file for online registration on behalf of MSMEs. Alternatively, SME associations could be allowed to file for registration of their members, Bhardwaj wrote in a communication briefing its members about the meeting.

Chawla said there are inherent limitations in the system as the option given to micro and small enterprises becomes null as various government schemes require them to disclose the EM number to take the benefit. ?So, a micro or small unit has to necessarily register and go through the harassment if it is to avail of the government schemes,? he said. SMEs are required to quote their EM numbers to avail of the benefit of central government programmes like Credit-linked Capital Subsidy and Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises.

Meanwhile, some minor amendments were brought before the committee at its

last week?s meeting. These changes are to bring out the incremental improvements.