The Hindu Business Line : Rs 400-cr computerisation plan on BOOT basis

THE Department of Company Affairs (DCA) has shortlisted Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and ICICI Infotech for its ambitious Rs 400-crore computerisation programme covering all its departments, to provide effective services to registered corporate entities. Disclosing this at a meeting of Company Secretaries, Chartered Accountants and Cost & Works Accounts here, the DCA Joint Secretary, Dr Sheela Bhide, said six companies had submitted bids for implementing the project on build, operate, own and transfer (BOOT) basis.

Stating that TCS and ICICI Infotech were shortlisted recently from the six bids, she said the final operator for the BOOT project would be decided by the month-end. The BOOT player would be given a timeframe of one year for the implementation of the project, which is expected to enable anywhere and anytime access for stakeholders to information on registered corporate entities.

According to Dr Bhide, the agreement with the final operator would be entered into by September this year and the project should go on stream during the last quarter of 2005. The BOOT operator would be initially given a contract to operate the project for six years. The DCA would review the performance of the operator and consider renewal of the project at the end of sixth year, she said.

``The DCA is the first department in the Government of India to go in for such a large-scale computerisation project. The project called `DCA-21' is being implemented as the Prime Minister's National Mission Programme. After evaluating the success and viability of the project, the Government plans to implement similar massive projects in other departments,'' Dr Bhide said.

Admitting that DCA had not paid much attention to the delays in registration and filings by companies, Dr Bhide said the procedure was cumbersome , leading to waste of time and money. While registration of companies and filing of regular documents were taking minutes to hours in several countries, it was taking days in India.

According to a study conducted by World Bank in 107 developed and developing countries across the globe, India stood at 87th position in speed of procedures, she said.

The objective of the project `DCA-21' was to reduce the time for registration of new companies from days to hours, offering online access to public records anywhere and anytime; easy registration and verification facility for charges for financial institutions; and attaining effective management and transparency.

Disclosing that the `proof of concept' for the project `DCA-21' was successfully completed at Coimbatore recently, the Joint Secretary said the first pilot project at Coimbatore and second pilot project at Delhi were expected to be completed during the next quarter.

Considering the problems of the current system wherein cash and cheques are paid only through the 22 branches of the Punjab National Bank , the DCA has decided to include four more banks - State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Indian Bank, to accept the payments by corporate entities. Over 200 branches of these banks would start accepting the payments shortly. The DCA is also considering a proposal to introduce a pre-paid card system for the companies to use the services of the department, the Joint Secretary said.

``It was estimated that the project `DCA-21' would result in substantial reduction of cost of compliance for companies. While the time saving was estimated at 1.5 crore hours annually, more than Rs 30 crore of public money would be saved every year,'' Dr Bhide said.

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