New Delhi, Nov 4 (PTI) Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Wednesday directed officials to complete the digitisation process in the ministry by March 31, 2027, after which no permits or licences should be issued physically.
He said that both the departments – commerce and industry – should look at all the processes, which are not yet digitised.
"There will be absolutely nothing coming to us physically after 1st April. It's a complete deadline, 31st March. Whatever needs to be digitised in terms of past data and past records, on a mission mode, take up the digitisation activities, including at the RAs (regional authorities) of the DGFT (directorate general of foreign trade) across the country. But after 1st April, nobody will be allowed or will be expected to visit any of our offices at all," Goyal said.
Inaugurating Vanijya and Udyog Bhawan virtually in Jaipur, he said processes like applications for a licence or permit or SCOMET ( Special Chemicals, Organisms, Materials, Equipment and Technologies) approval will have to be entirely online.
"If you want original documents verification or something, you can have a small counter where a person can come and verify the documents and upload them," he suggested.
He added that self-certification should also be encouraged, and more and more trust should be visible for all stakeholders of the ministry to promote transparency.
Inauguration of the Vanijya Bhavan and Udyog Bhawan marks the beginning of the co-location of offices of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and its associated and affiliated organisations at a single location.
Jaipur has become the first city and the first state capital to bring all these offices together under one roof.
These offices would serve as hubs to support industry and international trade and function as one-stop locations for activities relating to the promotion of exports, investments and internal trade.
Goyal stressed that the objective should go beyond administrative consolidation and extend to transforming service delivery, simplifying processes and making it easier to do business and comply with the laws of the land.
He also called for the simplification of processes, formats and forms, and urged the departments to break organisational silos and work collectively to deliver better outcomes for businesses and citizens.
The ministry currently has around 500 offices and 46 organisations.
"Except for very large campuses, such as the large office of ECGC in Mumbai, which would continue to function independently, the other offices would be brought under the co-location arrangement," he said.
The minister clarified that the co-located centres would not provide services only for the organisations physically situated there but would facilitate services across all 46 organisations and different departments under the Ministry.
He said that even where officials of a particular organisation were not physically stationed at a co-located office, people would be encouraged to interact with them through video conferencing.
Goyal directed that adequate video conferencing facilities be provided at every co-located office, with the provision to expand them to two or three counters depending on the size and requirements of the office.
(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)