Single window system for regulatory compliances soon

All business establishments in India may soon have a single window system for filing all statutory returns. The unique business ID to log on to this compliance portal is likely to be the PAN number, Anurag Jain, secretary, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce & Industry, says.

In a virtual address at the National Conference on MNCs 2022, organised by the apex industry chamber Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Jain says his department has had inter-ministerial consultations on the single window proposal for existing business and, by and large, everybody is on board. “Right now the single window approval system is positioned for new investments. In phase II, this will become the single window for existing businesses. All your returns will be a single window. This will make the life of existing businesses very simple. We are targeting (to have the new system in place) by December 2023,” he said.

According to Jain, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs has already made registration of new businesses in India a one-day process. “With its new registration portal, it is possible to start a business in India in just one day. Internationally, if you submit the application today and get the approval on day 3, it is called one-day approval. I am told in India also it is happening in the same manner. With one single form comes 11 registrations that are required to start a business,” he explains.

Jain says India is focusing on infrastructure development in a big way. “This year, we will be spending ₹20 lakh crore on infrastructure, of which ₹7.5 lakh crore is the central government’s share, another ₹6.5 lakh crore is state governments and the rest is the private sector. Put together, the expenditure in the Indian economy on infrastructure will be ₹20 lakh crore. Since it is done through PM Gati Shakti, it brings in a lot of efficiency, and the outcome of this infrastructure spending will be much more than what it would have been otherwise,” he says. All this will take India faster on the path of improving logistics efficiency, Jain adds.