Setting up a business in India may have just become a tad easier. Rather than visit various offices or websites, investors can now get as many as 14 services, ranging from submission of forms to obtaining licences, on the eBiz single-window portal.

The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) has announced the launch of 11 Central services on the eBiz Government-to-Business portal spread across ministries and institutions. This takes the total number of such services to 14.

The services that have been integrated include four from the Corporate Affairs Ministry, two from the Reserve Bank of India, two from Central Board Of Direct Taxation, and one each from the Directorate-General of Foreign Trade, Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation and the Petroleum & Explosives Safety Organisation.

At present, it takes about six months and 20 visits to various departments for an investor to get the mandatory clearances for starting a business, according to the DIPP.

The eBiz portal seeks to bring down the time and cost required to get the clearances and also significantly cuts down on legwork.

Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said: “The eBiz platform will now (with the integration of 14 services) provide end-to-end online submission and process of forms, including tracking and online payment. It strives to achieve horizontal integration across various verticals of the Centre, State and para-statal agencies.”

India is hopeful that the project will help it to move up the World Bank’s ‘ease of doing business index’, where it was ranked a low 142 among a total of 189 countries last year.

“We will try to ensure that more than 200 services related to investors and businesses will be rolled out across the country over the next few years,” DIPP Secretary Amitabh Kant said.

The first three years following the launch of eBiz would be the pilot phase during which 50 services will be implemented across 10 States, including Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan and West Bengal.

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