The government on Wednesday launched the much-awaited national single window system for investors and businesses. The portal will integrate existing clearance systems of the Centre as well as states.

       Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal the single window portal will become a ‘one-stop-shop for investors for approvals and clearances’ and will enable investors to identify and obtain approvals and clearances needed by investors, entrepreneurs, and businesses in India.

       “The portal as of today hosts approvals across 18 central departments and nine states, another 14 central departments, five states will be added by December 2021,” Goyal said.

       “This is freedom from bureaucracy and from windows within windows. This is a big step towards Ease of Doing Business. Nobody wants to be a detriment to doing business. This will not only enable Ease of Doing Business, but also Ease of Living. This is a result of the need for a single window of contact between businesses and the government,” Goyal said at the soft launch of the portal.

       The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) had planned to launch the portal in April, which got delayed due to the second wave. A soft launch of the portal was planned for 15 August, but it remained in a testing phase, with the one of the biggest challenges being coordination with multiple stakeholders involved.

       “This was a voluntary exercise and no one was pressured. We need not wait till December and keep onboarding. This is a soft launch, a test phase. We didn’t rush into the finalisation of modules.

       The platform will do away with the need for multiple applications across various portals. An investment proposal typically requires a bunch of approvals and clearances across various states and government departments. However, all approval will still be needed.

       The minister further said that all solutions will be there for all-at-one-click of the mouse through end-to-end’ facilitation.

       “This would bring transparency, accountability and responsiveness in the ecosystem and all information will.be available on a single dashboard. An applicant dashboard would be there to apply, track and respond to queries.Services include Know Your Approval (KYA), Common Registration & State registration Form, Document repository & E-Communication,” an official statement said.

       Goyal also said that the Centre and states are working to reduce compliance burden.