Intro:The eBiz platform will put an end to the problems that the investors are facing. It will serve as a one-stop clearance platform, which a business person can access with ease.
One important announcement that the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley made while presenting budget 2014-15 had to do with the eBiz project, which is one of the 31 Mission Mode Projects under the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP). Executed by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India, eBiz represents a very high level of maturity in web-based e-Governance applications.
“All Central Government Departments and Ministries will integrate their services with the eBiz platform on priority by December 31, this year,” Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said during his Budget speech.
There is no denying the importance of eBiz for making it easier for investors and businessmen to work in the country. By achieving horizontal integration across various verticals of Central and State governments, eBiz has the potential to bring about a positive change in the business environment. It can be used to provide efficient and transparent electronic services to investors, industries and businesses in the areas of information on forms and procedures, licenses, permits, registrations, approvals, clearances, permissions, reporting, filing, payments and compliances throughout the life-cycle of an industry or business entity.
The system that we currently have makes it very difficult for anyone to start a new business or set up a new industrial unit.Businessmen and investors have to procure multiple licences/clearances and related services from many government agencies. The task of getting information on the rules and regulations is quite cumbersome — the information is fragmented in multiple acts, rules and procedures and scattered across multiple websites. With this state of affairs, any average investor is bound to get confused — he will have no alternative except depending on middlemen for guidance.
The eBiz platform will put an end to the problems that the investors are facing. It will serve as a one-stop clearance platform, which a business person can access with ease. When all business and investment related clearances and compliances are available on a 24×7 single portal, linked to an integrated payment gateway, the ecosystem will be more transparent and fair. Instead of having to visit the government departments multiple times, the business user will be able to get the work done online. He can fill the eForms, upload the attachments, make payment online and submit the form for processing of the department. He will be provided with copy of challan, which he can save or print. He will receive SMS alerts on important notifications. The certificate/ approval/ clearance/ permit, etc., can be downloaded from eBiz.
The eBiz platform enables a transformational shift in the government’s approach to service delivery, from being department-centric to customer-centric. As of now 26 Central and 24 State services have been integrated with the eBiz portal. The services of Environment and Forest Ministry and the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) are yet to be integrated, as these departments have expressed some reservations about the eBiz project. It is expected that going forward more Central and State government services will be added to eBiz project.
According to the World Bank report India ranks at 134th position out of 189 economies. Projects like eBiz are critical for improving India’s position in the world economy. Of course, the eBiz project will not be able to deliver if reforms of the various departments are not carried out. Today an investor or businessman has to take too many permits, clearances or licences for starting a business. This licence-permit raj has to end. e-Governance should not have to lead to the digitisation of processes for licences and permits that are unnecessary. The obsolete processes should be discarded as they lead to lot of unnecessary wastage and delays, which a growing country like India can ill afford. -Anoop Verma
