Government to slash time taken to start new business to 5 days

You may now be able to start a new business in five days with minimal processes. The government is set to slash the requirements & time taken for starting a new business from 10 process and 18 days to five processes and as many days.

Ten key services, including name reservation, incorporation as well as registration for various taxes such as goods and services tax, will soon be available via two forms instead of multiple individual ones at present.

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs will in a month unveil the two new forms — ‘Spice Plus’ and ‘Agile Pro’ — which will replace six forms currently required to avail of these services, a government official said.


These two forms will provide access to GSTIN, PAN, TAN, ESIC, EPFO, DIN, bank accounts and professional tax.

“The new forms will be web-based and much easier to use. The Spice Plus (incorporation form) will allow you to apply for name and incorporation in the same form besides other paservices,” the official said. Businesses will now have to register with the Employee State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) and Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) at the time of incorporation, the official said. Inclusion of director identification number (DIN) and registration for professional tax along with registrations of permanent account number (PAN), tax deduction and collection account number (TAN) and GST identification number (GSTIN) at the time of incorporation would greatly improve the ease of setting up a business.

World Bank’s latest Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) report has measured the number of days required to set up a business in India at 18, and the number of processes at 10.

On the World Bank’s list, India is ranked 136th out of 190 economies in the category of ease of starting a business.

Improving ease of doing business has been a key agenda of the government, with India climbing 14 ranks to 63rd in the latest rankings.

The official said the ministries of corporate affairs, finance and labour, as well as the state government of Maharashtra had coordinated to bring about this reform.

The government had also tied up with eight banks to help newly registered businesses apply for bank accounts at the time of incorporation, the official said.