JOIN USThe initiative is being led by Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Jyotiraditya Scindia. "I am spearheading a vertical portal called e-biz, wherein all permissions - right from the corporate level to the state and central government - will be available (given) for any entrepreneur or a business person who wants to set up a business ...," Scindia said here.
The pilot project is being tested in Andhra Pradesh, he added. Once the project is successful in the state, it would be implemented across the country, Scindia said.
To set up a business in the country, an entrepreneur requires a number of approvals from civic bodies, state government agencies and the Centre.
These include registration under the Companies Act and the Shops and Establishment Act and the tax authorities for value-added tax and income tax. Besides e-biz project, the Commerce and Industry Ministry is working on an online project wherein all stakeholders of the exporting community, governmental and non-governmental organisations will be "co-located" at a single position.
The 'e-trade' project, which is aimed at easing approval procedures for traders, is expected to be launched by the end of this year, Scindia said. "It is a portal called e-trade...any importer or exporter again has to go to a single stop to get all permissions and approvals," he said.
According to the World Bank's 'Doing Business 2010 Report', India ranks 94 among various nations in terms of ease of trading across borders. "We are far behind comparable economies like China, Indonesia and Mexico in this regard," he had said in the Task Force Report on Transaction Cost which was released in February this year.
"There are time and cost issues associated with the transport, documentation and clearances of export and import cargo. Clearly, such costs have adverse impact on competitiveness of exports," he said.