Govt May Soon Roll Out National Single Window System To Foster Ease Of Doing Business In India

Prime Minister Narendra Modi may formally launch a National Single Window System (NSWS) on August 15, 2022 to help companies and entrepreneurs obtain all business related regulatory approvals and complete formalities without much hassle.  

The NSWS is a one-stop digital platform that allows startups, companies and investors to apply for various pre-operations approvals required for commencing a business in India. It makes the business registration process easier, allowing the beneficiary to get significant approvals online, without having to run to government offices.

Jammu and Kashmir became the first UT to be integrated with the NSWS in February 2022 with the launch of J&K single-window portal, integrating it with the central NSWS. 

The central government in September 2021 launched the NSWS for investors and businesses. The portal integrated the existing clearance systems of the Centre and states.

“This is freedom from bureaucracy and from windows within windows. This is a big step towards ease of doing business. Nobody wants to be a detriment to doing business.This will not only enable ease of doing business, but also ease of living. This is a result of the need for a single window of contact between businesses and the government,” Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said at the soft launch of the portal.

So far, the Know Your Approvals (KYA) module supports information across 32 central departments and 16 states. 

The KYA module on NSWS guides investors to identify approvals required for their business based on a dynamic intuitive questionnaire. Currently, the module hosts more than 3,000 approvals across the Centre and states departments.

However, there may be other approvals required which investors may like to check at their own discretion. 

The government is likely to onboard all 32 central departments and 425 approvals on the NSWS by the end of this financial year and the industry department is in talks with ministries of coal, culture and tourism to integrate their approvals on the system.

As of February 2022, at least 142 central approvals have been applied through the NSWS portal and 20 departments have been integrated on it. Since its launch last year, the highest number of approvals have been sought from the ministries of corporate and consumer affairs, food and public distribution.

At present, five out of eight approvals of the ministries of corporate affairs, and consumer affairs, food and public distribution are live, while 40 of 47 approvals of the commerce department are in service. 

Fourteen states including Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, and the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir are on board while Gujarat, Telangana, Punjab and Odisha, among others, have their own portals which have been integrated with the central platform.

The first approval through the NSWS portal was granted on January 11, 2022 to CMR-Kataria Recycling for a vehicle scrappage facility RVSF at Kheda, Gujarat, with a capacity of 67,000 vehicles. The approval was granted within 63 days since the application was submitted online on November 8, 2021.

Besides, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) also offers a startup and company recognition program, wherein a startup can register itself, and once recognised by the department, can avail multiple benefits that come with the recognition.

The recognised startups are exempted from tax under Section 80IAC, and also are exempt from income tax under Section 56(2)(VIIB), along with many compliances and regulatory benefits that the recognised startups can avail from the DPIIT.

Currently, DPIIT has recognised 65,450 startups in India.