Ease Of Doing Business: National Single Window System Facilitates Over 44,000 Approvals Since Launch Last Year

Over 44,000 approvals have been facilitated through the National Single Window System (NSWS) and more than 28,000 approvals are currently under process, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said on Thursday (1 November).

The NSWS is a digital platform to guide businesses in identifying and applying for government approvals according to their requirements.

The NSWS currently accepts applications for 248 Government To Business (G2B) clearances from 26 central ministries/departments, in addition to different state/UT level clearances in 16 states and UTs.

The 16 states and UTs onboarded on the platform are Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Goa, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Nagaland, Odisha, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand.

Further, work is going on to integrate five more states - Haryana, Andaman & Nicobar, Tripura, Jharkhand and Arunachal Pradesh - with the platform by 15 December.

The Commerce Ministry expects the onboarding of remaining eight central ministries/department to happen by 31 December and the balance states/UTs by 31 March 2023.

The portal will progressively onboard a greater number of approvals and licenses, based on user/industry feedback, it added.

NSWS was soft launched to all stakeholders and the public In September last year by Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal.

The system was created by Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) as per the budget announcement of creation of an Investment Clearance Cell (ICC) to provide a single platform to enable the identification and obtaining of approvals and clearances needed by investors, entrepreneurs, and businesses in India. 

The system is envisioned to reduce duplicity of information submission to different ministries, reduce compliance burden, promote sector specific reforms and schemes, reduce gestation period of projects, and promote ease of starting and doing business, the ministry said.

NSWS enables the identification, applying and subsequent tracking of approvals for all integrated states and central departments, making it a true National Single Window System, it added.

The ministry said that NSWS sees visitors coming from 157 countries on the portal, with USA, UK, and UAE (United Arab Emirates) on top.