eGovernance platforms now assist businesses with more information on registering companies in India

The Indian Government has been making a lot of changes around the country concerning its eGovernance platforms. Other than using them to increase the number of people applying for personal, and in most cases, mandatory documentation, they are now using the same platforms to assist businesses with their due diligence.

With the rising number of people affected with the Coronavirus, the Government called for a national lockdown at the beginning of the year, in the initial stages of the pandemic. They also implemented rules about people staying home and indoors and leaving, only if they had to. People were not venturing out to safeguard against catching the virus. With a large number of people staying indoors, businesses were not seeing the turnouts that they were in the past, and people were not venturing to make purchases as they did before. Companies were letting go of a large number of their staff, with the future quite uncertain.

These changes were not only taking place from the purchases but the people running the stores as well. They were not getting completing a lot of the diligence or paperwork they had to handle. In India, the agencies and offices to keep a check were significantly understaffed. The Government had to make sure they incentivise companies to get through the process. Not only were these documents beneficial for companies, but they were also positive for the people employed by these companies since it protected their interests as well.

Business licenses are permits issued by government agencies allowing individuals or companies to conduct business depending on the rules of that specific city or state, and the authorities governing that location. The number of different licences that a company has to apply for depends on the business, with most companies needing a lot more than one licence, coordinated through multiple government departments and agencies. Business licenses vary between countries, states, and local municipalities.

All businesses employing people have to apply for a shop licence if they are planning on hiring staff, whether casual workers, full-time employees, contract-based etc. These licences assist with the regulation of working conditions, ensuring the protection of rights of the employees. Establishments have to register under the Shops and Establishments Act, which is informally called the Shop Licence.

Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is an autonomous body established under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India. The FSSAI was established under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, which merged several older rules and Acts relating to food safety and regulation in India.

The FSSAI protects and promotes public health through the regulation and supervision of food safety. They have six regional offices in Delhi, Guwahati, Mumbai, Kolkata, Cochin, and Chennai and 14 referral laboratories notified by FSSAI, 72 State or Union Territory laboratories located throughout India and 112 laboratories are NABL accredited private laboratories notified by FSSAI.

Businesses dealing with food products have to handle an FSSAI registration. While the process used to be quite challenging in the past, applicants can now complete it online with the Government implementing eGovernance platforms. There are a series of requirements, including inspection before going through the process. After receiving an FSSAI registration, they have surprise inspections to make sure they follow the rules and regulations that they had put in place at the time of their initial registration.

They can download the application forms and additional documents from the website. Furthermore, people can even use one of the many websites to download the list of supporting documents needed to apply for their FSSAI registration. The type of registration they get through depends on the type of business, their turnover, their reach and whether they are running in one Indian state or have branches across the country. Even the fees that they would pay would depend on this information.

Business licences are used by businesses and companies for formal registrations, allowing companies to avail of multiple benefits including applying for various schemes, the capability of applying for business-related requirements, like corporate bills and specific registration and documents.