The phenomenal growth of Corporate Sector - from
30,000 companies at work in 1956 to 7.26 lakh in March, 2006 - calls for prompt
and efficient delivery of services by the Ministry of Company Affairs (MCA) to
enable the businesses compete globally. It became increasingly difficult to
deliver services in an efficient manner in a paper-based filing system. Monitoring
of compliance with various provisions of the company law became even more
difficult. India was ranked at 77th place in the
World Bank report on “Doing Business in India – 2005” .
The regulatory framework must facilitate compliance of
rules and regulations at minimum cost with maximum convenience to the
stakeholder in order to enable Indian corporate to remain ahead in a
competitive environment. Conscious of its responsibility towards the Corporate
Sector and requirements of the current business environment, the MCA has
initiated an ambitious e-Governance programme christened “MCA21”. Conceived as
a Mission Mode Project of the Government of India under the National
e-Governance Plan, MCA21 is comprehensive service delivery project and is being
implemented following a Public-Private Partnership model. The programme,
launched with a view to introducing efficiency and transparency in delivery of
services, focuses on a customer-centric approach as the principal driving
factor and transform the manner in which working of the corporate sector is
regulated.
MCA21 Services
There are approximately 100 different services provided
by Ministry of Company Affairs. The major service categories are:
· Incorporation
of new companies;
· Facilitation
of filing of annual statutory returns;
·
Other event-based statutory filings by the companies;
· Access to
company records in public domain;
· Provision
of a grievances redressal forum for
the investors;
· Ensuring
compliance of legal provisions by the Corporate sector.
Beneficiaries of MCA 21
The focus of the MCA21 program is to bring about a
fine balance of the stakeholder requirements - between facilitation and
regulation - as a blend of well-defined goals and performance metrics. Adopting
International best practices, the goals have been set to bring immense value to
the stakeholders as under:
· Business: enabled to register
a company and file statutory documents quickly and easily, and in a manner
that is convenient
· Public: empowered to get easy access to relevant records and
get their grievances redressed effectively
· Professionals: enabled to offer
efficient services to their client companies
· Financial Institutions: facilitated
to register and verify charges easily
· MCA: enabled to ensure proactive & effective compliance
of relevant laws and corporate governance
· Employees: enabled to deliver
best of services
Salient Project Features
· Introduction
of anywhere, anytime secure electronic filing for MCA transactions;
·
Adaptation of all statutory forms to e-forms for electronic filing;
· Use of Digital
Signatures to ensure the security of electronic forms and documents in conformity
with the Information Technology Act, 2000;
· Convenient multi-modal methods of payment encompassing
existing payment mechanism and electronic payment options using credit cards
and Internet banking;
· Access to the services optimized for use from a typical
home Internet connection;
· MCA offices to use best-in-class information technology
solution that will include electronic workflows and sophisticated document
storage and retrieval systems, with significant paper reduction;
· 53 of Physical Front Offices located nationwide that
will provide facilitation services for electronic filing;
·Nearly 5 crore pages of legacy corporate documents digitized
for on-line access using Internet;
· Easy reporting of grievances by investors through MCA
portal for easy and speedy redressal;
· Use of technology solutions that allow easy adaptation
of evolving technologies while providing the robustness and scalability to
the system;
·National Data Center to provide uninterrupted 24 x 7
operations;
· High bandwidth nationwide connectivity across all offices
of MCA and facility to allow access to several thousand users at the same
time;
· Disaster Recovery Mechanism with a state-of-the-art facility
to restart operations within 12 hours in the event of a natural or man-made
disaster.
Implementation Status
The Project implementation commenced with the signing
of contract agreement with the selected operator M/s Tata Consultancy Services
Ltd. on 01.03.2005. The Project has an implementation cycle and thereafter an
operation period of 6 years. The first pilot was launched in Coimbatore on
February 18, 2006 and closely followed the launch of the second pilot at New
Delhi by the Prime Minister on March 18, 2006.
The project has been rolled-out at all ROC locations in a phased manner
as of 10th August, 2006.
Change Management
MCA21 involves significant amount of change in terms
of methods, systems and mindset at all levels and its success is dependent on
how the internal stakeholders (MCA employees) and the external stakeholders
(the company representatives and the Professionals) adapt to the new way of
interacting business. Change management interventions have been an integral
part of the program from day one so that there is a quick adaptation to the new
work culture. Comprehensive training of the MCA staff as well as the
professionals has been undertaken besides an extensive outreach programme to
enable the ‘change’ to be easy and fast. As for the external stakeholders, a series
of programmes and workshops have been organized throughout the country to
create awareness about the usage, the usefulness and compliance related
operations under the project. These seminars have been followed-up with
comprehensive training workshops organized by the TCS at all the major towns/
cities in the country.
Certified Filing Centres
Conscious of the fact that a switch over from a
paper-based filing environment under
the manual system of operations to a paperless electronic environment is a major
transition, the project provides for setting-up of Facilitation Centres at 53
locations throughout the country. These Facilitation Centres, managed and
operated by the TCS, provide complete assistance in e-filing of documents for
the stakeholders and the services provided therein are without any charges. In
addition, in order to ensure a wider outreach for facilitation services, the
Ministry has also introduced a scheme of Certified Filing Centres (CFCs) which
are managed and operated by the Professionals from the three Institutes of the
Company Secretaries of India, the Chartered Accountants of India and the
Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India. However, the services
available through these CFCs entail payment of service charges. Approval for
setting-up of 412 CFCs spread across 85 towns and cities has already been
accorded by the Ministry. Still more applications are in the pipeline.
Mandating e-filing from September 16, 2006
The process
of e-filing was started with the launch of the programme at each location in a
progressive manner. However, filings were accepted in physical form under
manual signatures of the authorized persons and the e-filing has been
facilitated through the Facilitation Centres so far. Keeping in view that the
programme has been rolled-out at all the ROC locations and the advent of the
peak filing season for filing of Annual Returns and Balance Sheets by the
companies, it has been decided to accept filings only in electronic mode under
the Digital Signatures of the authorized persons from September 16, 2006. All
the company representatives authorized to sign the documents are required to
obtain Digital Signatures during this time in order to ensure the security and
authenticity of filings in the electronic mode.
Benefits to Stakeholders
MCA21 is a pioneering initiative and has been adopted
as a “Mission Mode” project under the National e-Governance Plan of the
Government of India. Such mission mode projects have been positioned as major
change agents in the e-Governance space in India. The project has been
successfully completed and the roadmap for further enhancements has been drawn
up as a dynamic process. Such initiatives of change in the way of Government
functioning will bring the true benefits of 21st century
to all the stakeholders.(PIB Features)
*Minister for Company
Affairs, Government of India
(Release ID :19851)