Doing business in India is set to become easier, more convenient and investor-friendly, with the ministry of commerce & industry on Tuesday awarding the country?s second-largest software firm, Infosys Technologies a project to enable budding entrepreneurs to obtain central, state and even municipal clearances, licences and permits online.
The ten-year ?e-biz project? calls for the development and maintenance of a one-stop portal and is the third of 27 government mission-mode projects under an ambitious
Rs 23,000-crore national e-governance plan. Infosys topped a pack of five bidders for the prestigious assignment under the department of industrial policy & promotion, the nodal central agency responsible for industry-related issues.
The e-biz project will have a pilot phase running over three years, which will cover five states–Delhi, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu–and offer 50 services. When completed in 2019, the portal will include all states and central government departments covering more than 205 g-to-b services, including the issue of licences and permits needed across a company?s business lifecycle.
?This is a path-breaking initiative?This is another step towards liberalising and reforming our investor environment,? said commerce & industry minister Anand Sharma. The total cost of implementing the project would be Rs 15 crore. According to Infosys Technologies senior vice-president and head of India business unit Binod HR, this will go towards putting together the hardware and software for the portal.
Once the project goes live, the company will be paid a transaction fee on a revenue-share basis with the government. Some 100 people based out of Infosys?s Bangalore campus will work on the e-biz initiative.
Though the initiative won?t actually reduce procedures, it would ensure minimum physical interface for potential entrepreneurs and investors. Moreover, there would be a time-bound target set for the issue of permits and other licences. However, regulatory procedures like those involving the Foreign Investment Promotion Board will not be part of this portal.
At the moment, it takes at least 30 days to set up a new business venture in India. ?When the project is complete, India will be part of a select group of countries were a business can be started in three days or less,? said a DIPP official.