MCA21 - Pioneering e-Governance

To facilitate business in India a pioneering e-Governance initiative ‘MCA21’ was launched by the Ministry in January 2007. This project has adopted a service oriented approach in the design and delivery of Government services, whereby stakeholders have easy and secure access to MCA services, through the infrastructure setup for the purpose, at any time and from any place and in a manner that best suits them.

MCA 21 has been progressing at a steady rate in its pursuit to provide better services to the citizens and corporate alike.  The current year has been exceptional in terms of rolling out newer initiatives, Selection of new Operator and Transitioning from incumbent to new operator.

Online Payments Using NEFT

MCA 21 has been allowing three modes of payment by the companies, Credit cards, Netbanking (5 designated banks) and Paper challans; all these modes had limitations for the companies with bank accounts in banks other than the 5 designated banks and physical visits to the branches of the designated banks for filing challans.

By introduction of National Electronic Funds Transfer mode of payment, companies having bank account in any bank can make e-payments by using the NEFT method.

Key benefits of NEFT

·         Reduces the Payee’s effort (branch visit is not required)

·         Reduces the time for funds transfer (2-5 hours)

·         Reduces the dependency on the limited number of banks

Integration of LLP with MCA21 System

The e-Governance Project for Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) has been brought  under the same platform of MCA.  Now, the filing and approval of LLP forms is being done  through MCA-21 website (www.mca.gov.in) and stakeholders are able to avail all existing facilities of MCA-21.

   

   DIN-DPIN Integration

It was felt that DIN(Director Identification Number) and DPIN (Director/Partner Identification Number)  is identification attached to an individual and thus must be independent of the type of firm one is associated with, (partnership or limited company).  A smooth integration was done to eliminate the duplication of identities in the system. This has helped all the major regulators and also the companies to make an individual check through the MCA 21 system.

Online Issuance of DIN

DIN is needed by director of a company who is authorised to file and issue documents. It is very important for the companies to get DIN to file online or place any online service request.

MCA through its MCA21 system issues the DIN online with the verification and digital signature of practicing professionals (Company Secretary/ Chartered Accountant/ Cost & Works Accountant). This has brought a great deal of dynamism in the corporate world, it has become very easy for the companies to appoint a new director, change the director as soon as the decision comes in to effect. Now, one can get a DIN online in a few minutes.  Integration with PAN database has been established for online verification of identity details in MCA21 system.

XBRL Filing

To bring in the global standards for filing and database updation MCA has made it mandatory for companies of select, big class to file all the documents in the XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) format.  MCA has involved all the stakeholder, viz. Software companies, implementing agencies, professionals and companies, for smooth implementation of this project. MCA directly and through its agencies like IICA, ICAI, and ICSI has been conducting training and awareness programs for effective implementation of XBRL filing.

Key benefits of XBRL filing:

·            Relevant data has tags and selective information can be fetched for specific purposes by various government and Regulatory agencies

·            It is in conformation with the Global reporting standards , which helps in the improved data mining and relevant information search

·            The system has been put in place for XBRL filing with effect from 6^th October, 2011 and more than 28000 companies have already filed their Annual Report for the Financial Year 2010-11 and more than 8000 companies for the Financial Year 2011-2012 using XBRL documents.

Company Registration within 24-48 hours

For registering a company in India following steps are mandatory:-

·        Getting a DIN

·        Getting a unique name

·        Getting the Registration certificate from ROC (Registrar of Companies)

To reduce the waiting time and make the whole system of registration of new company, getting the unique name and the registration certificate online, MCA through its MCA21 system has made it possible for companies to register in India within 24-48 hours.

This system not only helps reduce the waiting time but also the instances of human error while issuing new names.

E- Stamping for Pan India

Now all the States and Union Territories of India are covered under the E-Stamping scheme of MCA services. With this addition, companies registered in all the States and Union Territories have the facility of availing online e-stamping for MCA services. This is a major initiative of  central Government department where payment on behalf of various state governments is collected online and deposited with respective States without any manual intervention. This initiative is also a green initiative reducing the need for paper stamps. The  World bank   has described it as a pioneering initiative in achieving e-Governance in a federal structure.

Reversal and Refund Process

A Reversal and Refund process has been introduced.  The Refund process is designed to deal with the cases of multiple, incorrect, excess payments and incorrect payment via NFT made due to unexpected snag occurred in the electronic system.

Transition to New Operator and Continuation Cycle of  MCA21

With the six year contract with the incumbent operator for MCA21 ending on   16^th January 2013, the Ministry has successfully completed the selection of the new operator through fair and transparent bid process. The transition has reached the second stage of the Secondary support after completion of the first stage of Knowledge Transfer, which completed on 16^th January 2013 with end of third stage i.e. Primary Support.

In the continuation cycle, on 17^th January 2013 there was enhancements to the systems in respect of Network bandwidth, SAP CRM & workflow, hardware with updated technology and enhanced monitoring tools.

-Inputs from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.