From next year, PAN may be the single entry point for businesses to receive a number of key approvals in India. The Finance Minister, while commenting on the National Single Window System (NSWS) last week, tweeted, “Different Ministries are working together to use one of the existing databases as the single entry point, most probably that will be the PAN.” Needless to say, this can be a galloping step in pushing ease of doing business in the country.

The NSWS portal, which was soft launched on the September 22, 2021 as per the announcement made in the Union Budget for creation of an Investment Clearance Cell (ICC), which in turn provides a single platform to investors, entrepreneurs, and businesses for identifying and obtaining of approvals and clearances through a single window. Since its launch, the portal has increasingly captured interest of investors.

According to official data, as of now 26 central ministries and departments onboarded with 248 approvals are live on the portal. In addition, the portal accepts applications for a number of state level clearances in 16 states. NSWS has about 3.7 lakh plus unique visitors, and over 44,000 approvals have been facilitated through it while over 28,000 approvals are currently under process. It has seen visitors coming from 157 countries with USA, UK and UAE on top.

The proposed measure will encourage more companies to apply. It will not only speed up approvals but also enhance accountability and transparency. Currently, certain government policies are totally being implemented by the NSWs and it can be expected that with introduction of more services and more states joining the portal, NSWS will be able convert "Red Tape" into "Red Carpet" as envisaged by the government.

I invite your opinions.