New Delhi, Apr 20 (KNN) At a time when the Government claims to have taken appropriate steps to ensure proper reforms for ease of doing business in the country to facilitate its flagships projects such as Make in India, Stand-up India and Start-up India, there is a need for a reality check. The claims of the Government seems to fall flat for some MSMEs

Talking to KNN, Naveen Jain, An MSME entrepreneur, Managing Director of Muzaffarnagar based Dayachand Engineering raised the problems he have been facing in getting his firms registered. “It has been more than two years, I have applied for vendor registration to Mumbai port trust, and they have been asking me for documents, though I have completed the mandatory formalities, my firm isn’t registered yet."

He says that he has been writing back and forth to the trust, but it has not helped so far.

KNN accessed the documents of communication between Jain, Ministry and the Mumbai Port Trust. In a series of letters between the entrepreneur and the Mumbai Port Trust, the port has been asking him for documents and he has been sending them as asked.

In a letter to the Mumbai Port Trust sent on 28^th October 2016, the entrepreneur writes “We applied on 10.02.2015 for vendor registration with Mumbai port trust; we were informed that the registration was pending due to the pending performance report from the Controller of stores, West-Central Railway, Jabalpur. The asked report was also sent on 30.07.2016, but we haven’t been registered” It further said that this is the third letter of grievance in this regard and the grievance was closed abruptly.

Citing another case Jain grieves that he has been trying with to get his product registered as a vendor with the Delhi Metro, despite completing the formalities in time, he has not been able to get it done since last 18 months.

Jain questioned the Government's Ease of doing business claim, “At present by providing an easy PAN access or the Company registration number the government is merely facilitating ease of entering into business, it has got nothing to do with the ease of doing business, the government certainly needs to do more,” he added.

Meanwhile, his case is not one of its kind, there have been other cases similar to this in which the industries operating on small and medium scale have had issues with the outlined procedures which the government claims to have simplified.

Talking to KNN, S.K Aggarwal, Chairman of VImal Organics spoke about the complication with the existing procedures for getting a ‘focus license’ for exports.

“The problem is with the entire long procedure. At present to get one, I have to write an application to the DGSP, attach the Bank realization certificate (BRC), and this all is to be done via local agents. It takes nearly 20 days or more to reach the DGSP; it takes another 15 days for the license to get dispatched to me” said Aggarwal

Voicing his concerns in line with the Government's Ease of Doing business and Digital India program he said that this long and cumbersome procedure can be simplified. Online application should be allowed for exporters as our entire documentation including the BRC and the bank details are already with the RBI and DGSP, there is no point writing an application and sending the documents again and again. He further added that by making the entire procedure online the Government can save on cost and time.

He further stated the problems with the prevailing banking facility. The RTGS and NEFT modes of transfer are available only on working days during working hours. While banks abroad are extending similar facilities round the clock, it’s high time that the RBI take necessary steps and make such facilities available to the industry.

According to media reports earlier this month in a bid to jump 80 spots to be in the top 50 spots in this year’s list of World Banks Ease of Doing business report, the government is reaching out to respondents and nodal departments to ensure they are aware of the reforms undertaken. (KNN/ DA)