Government of India, in its efforts to improve the business climate of the country and also improve country’s ranking in the World Bank report on Doing Business, held a meeting on 19 December, 2016 under the chairmanship of Finance Minister. Some of the main decision taken during the meeting were -
1. eBiz portal shall be mandated for starting a business which shall include three functions of Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Registration for PAN and TAN and also registration for EPFO & ESIC.
2. Ministry of Corporate Affairs, CBDT, Ministry of Labour & Employment will work towards reducing the number of procedures for starting a business to 4 and the number of days to start a business also to 4.
3. Shram Suvidha Portal shall be the only portal for filing the return, challan and making online payment for EPFO & ESIC.
4. Department of Revenue and Ministry of Shipping shall work towards increasing the number of direct delivery consignments to 40 percent by end of this month. The Departments shall also ensure that the cost and time to export and import gets reduced substantially to bring India within top 50 ranks.
5. Ministry of Corporate Affairs shall work with the concerned stakeholders so that the provisions as recently enabled under Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code are implemented through NCLT.
6. To further improve country’s ranking in the indicator of ‘Getting Credit’, Department of Financial Services and Ministry of Corporate Affairs shall work towards integrating CERSAI database with ROC Registry of Charges to create a single registry of assets.
7. In the indicator of Enforcing Contracts, Hon’ble Commerce and Industry Minister mentioned that country ranks poorly at 172 on this indicator and efforts need to be taken on many reforms to bring the country among the top 50 nations. She also mentioned that initiative of eCourts should be expedited for electronic filing of complaints, summons and payments especially in the Commercial Courts.
8. On ‘Construction Permit’, Secretary, Ministry of Urban Development mentioned that the procedures shall be brought down to 8 within 60 days. However Hon’ble Finance Minister desired that Department should explore the possibility of commencing the construction on architect’s certification and approval granted only at the time of the occupancy of the building.