national single window system

 https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1756966

"Launch of National Single Window System, is a giant leap, towards making India Aatmanirbhar" said Shri Piyush Goyal while Launching the facility.

Union Minister for Commerce & Industry, Textiles, Consumer Affairs & Public Distribution Shri Piyush Goyal said that NSWS will usher in Azadi from legacy of running to Govt. offices  for approvals and registrations  He said that in this 75 weeks of “Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav”, we can share “Azadi ka Amrit” with Investors, Business owners (MSMEs) not only form India but from the world.The Minister said that 

NSWS would usher in Azadi from legacy of running to Govt. offices, i.e. Ease of doing business & Ease of living Azadi from paperwork, duplication & information asymmetry Azadi from Windows within Window..   

The Minister said that PM Modi’s, decisive & bold leadership has enabled & encouraged India to dream bigger

His vision has become our mission for the progress of nation & prosperity for crores of citizens Need for a single interface between businesses & Govt at national level has been felt for a long time 

Speaking on the occasion, Shri Goyal said that this single window portal will become a one-stop-shop for investors for approvals & clearances

The portal as of today hosts approvals across 18 Central Departments & 9 States, another 14 Central depts & 5  states will be added by Dec’21 

Shri Goyal added that all solutions will be there for all at one click of the mouse through ‘End to End’ facilitation .

This would bring Transparency, Accountability & Responsiveness in the ecosystem  and all information will.be available on a single dashboard. An applicant  Dashboard would be there to apply, track & respond to queries.

Services include Know Your Approval (KYA), Common Registration & State registration Form, Document repository & E-Communication

Shri Goyal said  today India holds the attention of the world & the entire world is looking at India to rise & claim its rightful place as an economic powerhouse.GDP has grown at over 20% in Q1FY22, Exports jumped 45.17% in Aug w.r.t. Aug 2020 Record FDI investment of $81.72 bn in 2020, $ 22.53 bn inflow in first 3 months of this FY ~2X w.r.t. Same period in 2020 Recently, India has jumped to 46th spot on GII, a jump of 35 places in last 6 years

He said that with a rapid recovery, we are back on track to become one of the fastest growing large economies Like the other transformative & nation building initiatives launched in the last 7 years

The Minister said that NSWS will provide strength to other schemes e.g. Make in India, Startup India, PLI scheme etc.  

It may be noted that improving India’s business climate is one of the key focus areas of the Government of India. Reiterating its commitment to “Make in India, make for the world”, the government has launched several initiatives recently, including the flagship Production Linked Incentive Scheme (PLI) and the India Industrial Land Bank System. The PLI schemes have been announced for 13 sectors with an overall outlay of USD 27 billion and is set to create manufacturing global champions for an Atmanirbhar Bharat. 

One such crucial initiative, announced by the  Finance Minister in the Union Budget speech 2020, is the ambitious Investment Clearance Cell (ICC). While presenting Budget 2020-21, the Finance Minister announced plans to set up an Investment Clearance Cell (ICC) that will provide “end to end” facilitation and support to investors, including pre-investment advisory, provide information related to land banks and facilitate clearances at Centre and State level. The cell was proposed to operate through a online digital portal. 

Subsequently, DPIIT along with Invest India initiated the process of developing the portal as a National Single Window System (NSWS), which will provide a single platform to enable investors to identify and obtain approvals and clearances needed by investors, entrepreneurs, and businesses in India.

The system is envisioned to address information asymmetry, duplication of information submitted across platforms and authorities and inefficient tracking of approvals and registration faced by investors. 

Extensive consultations were held with Central departments and States, especially the ones with effective Single Window Systems. Furthermore, discussions were undertaken with Industry associations, professional bodies, and legal firms to understand the expectations from the envisioned single window system. This was followed by the creation of Ministry-wise information dockets comprising of respective approvals and registrations along with relevant trigger conditions and policies. Each ministry undertook an extensive review and validation exercise to ensure all relevant approvals and registrations were covered in the scope of the National Single Window System.

While this exercise was conducted by the stakeholders, Invest India undertook the design of overall technology architecture suitable for a system scalable across Ministries & States. Invest India evaluated and selected technology implementation partners and started developing the system.

 In January 2021, Know Your Approval module was opened for feedback from Industry associations. Meanwhile, Ministries & States started integration with core modules of NSWS for seamless exchange of information. After incorporation of feedback in the KYA module, it was launched in July 2021. While extensive testing and trials were undertaken to test the robustness of NSWS and its integration with Central Departments and States.

NSWS has been designed keeping the needs of entrepreneurs and investors at the center.

 NSWS provides following online services: - 

• Know Your Approval (KYA) Service: an intelligent information wizard that generates a list of approvals required by any business to commence operations. It does so by asking the investor a series of dynamic questions about their planned business activities and identifies the applicable approvals basis the responses provided. The questionnaire, simple and user friendly on the surface, has a complex, automated logic built into it to sieve through hundreds of approvals, and shortlists only those relevant to the specific investor or entrepreneur. This service was launched on 21.07.2021 with over 500 approvals across 32 Central Departments and over 2000 approvals across 14 states.

 This service is only for guidance purposes and does not constitute any legal advice.

• Common Registration Form: To ensure a single point of submission of information and documents across Ministries and States, a unified information capturing system along with a common registration form has been introduced. Information is auto-populated on forms, eliminating the need to fill in the same information again. 

• State registration form: Enables investor to have seamless single click access to respective State Single Window System.

• Applicant dashboard: Provides a single online interface to apply, track and respond to the queries pertaining to approvals and registrations across ministries and States. 

• Document repository: An online centralized storage service for investors to enable one-time document submission and use the same across multiple approvals. This eliminates the need to submit documents at multiple portals.

• E-Communication module: Enables online response to queries and clarification requests related to applications by Ministries and States.

The beta version of the portal has now been completed and is being opened to all stakeholders and the public as trial soft launch. The beta version of the portal (under Phase I), hosts approvals from 18 Central departments and 9 States and is aimed at guiding investors to the list of business approvals they may need, based on information provided by them. Another 14 Central departments and 5 States will be onboarded by December 2021 (under Phase II)

The portal will progressively onboard a greater number of approvals and licenses, based on user / industry feedback. Though extensive testing by Ministries/States is ongoing, and will continue for next three months to stabilize & optimize the platform, it is critical that extensive feedback from the industry users is accommodated to ensure comprehensiveness and high utility for Investors & Entrepreneurs.

GST simplification

Press release by Ministry of Finance on GST simplification.

Major Decisions taken by the GST Council in its 32nd Meeting held today under the Chairmanship of the Union Minister of Finance & Corporate Affairs, Shri Arun Jaitley 

Posted On: 10 JAN 2019 6:18PM by PIB Delhi

The GST Council in its 32^nd Meeting held today under the Chairmanship of the Union Minister of Finance & Corporate Affairs, Shri Arun Jaitley in New Delhi took the following major decisions to give relief to MSME (including Small Traders) among others -

1.   Increase in Turnover Limit for the existing Composition Scheme: The limit of Annual Turnover in the preceding Financial Year for availing Composition Scheme for Goods shall be increased to Rs 1.5 crore. Special category States would decide, within one week, about the Composition Limit in their respective States.

1.1    Compliance Simplification: The compliance under Composition Scheme shall be simplified as now they would need to file one Annual Return but Payment of Taxes would remain Quarterly (along with a simple declaration).

2.    Higher Exemption Threshold Limit for Supplier of Goods: There would be two Threshold Limits for exemption from Registration and Payment of GST for the suppliers of Goods i.e. Rs 40 lakhs and Rs 20 lakhs. States would have an option to decide about one of the limits within a weeks’ time. The Threshold for Registration for Service Providers would continue to be Rs 20 lakhs and in case of Special Category States at Rs 10 lakhs.

3.   Composition   Scheme for Services: A Composition Scheme shall be made available for Suppliers of Services (or Mixed Suppliers) with a Tax Rate of 6% (3% CGST +3% SGST) having an Annual Turnover in the preceding Financial Year up to Rs 50 lakhs.

3.1  The said Scheme Shall be applicable to both Service Providers as well as Suppliers of Goods and Services, who are not eligible for the presently available Composition Scheme for Goods.

3.2  They would be liable to file one Annual Return with Quarterly Payment of Taxes (along with a Simple Declaration).

4.     Effective date: The decisions at Sl. No. 1 to 3 above shall be made operational from the 1^st of April, 2019.

5.    Free Accounting and Billing Software shall be provided to Small Taxpayers by GSTN.

 6.   Matters referred to Group of Ministers:

        i.   A seven Member Group of Ministers shall be constituted to examine the proposal of giving a Composition Scheme to Boost the Residential Segment of the Real Estate Sector.

      ii.    A Group of Ministers shall be constituted to examine the GST Rate Structure on Lotteries.

7.  Revenue Mobilization for Natural Calamities: GST Council approved Levy of Cess on Intra-State Supply of Goods and Services within the State of Kerala at a rate not exceeding 1% for a period not exceeding 2 years.

High Security Registration Plates - new vehicles

Ministry of Road Transport & Highways press release dated 6th December, 2018 

All new vehicles will be sold pre-fitted with High Security Registration Plates – HSRP from the 1^st of April next year. The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways has notified amendments in Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989 to this effect. The notification mandates that the High Security Registration Plate including the third registration mark shall be supplied by the vehicle manufacturers along with the vehicles manufactured on or after the 1st day of April, 2019 to their dealers and dealers shall place a mark of registration on such plates and affix them on the vehicle. The vehicle dealers can also provide the HSRP plates for old vehicles.

This step is likely to improve the coverage of HSRP on vehicles, while ensuring its quality by the vehicle manufacturers. The HSRP helps in keeping track of the vehicle, and makes it easier to trace a lost or stolen vehicle.

The notification to amend the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989 to this effect was issued after due consideration of objections and suggestions received from the public in this regard. Ministry of Road Transport and Highways had in April this year invited objections and suggestions from those likely to be affected from the amendment.