Challenge

Tamil Nadu wanted a single-window portal for faster closure of investor applications.

Compliance with government regulations is key to a business’ profitable sustenance. Setting up a new business or expanding an existing one starts with investors seeking a range of approvals from various government agencies – this necessitates the need for single window facilitation.

Established in 1992, Guidance is the nodal agency for investment promotion in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The agency was looking to streamline the process of investment approval which was documentation-heavy and involved several stakeholders, resulting in a rather long cycle time. What was also needed was a robust, integrated payments system that would allow investors to pay the designated fee for various approvals seamlessly from the bank of their choice.

The lack of uniformity, visibility, and transparency in data across different systems and departments made the entire process cumbersome for both investors as well as the agency. Long processing times and inadvertent errors reduced the enthusiasm of entrepreneurs and investors, which is what the Tamil Nadu government was looking to address by means of a single-window clearance system that would ensure regulatory compliance while offering a smooth user experience.

Solution

TCS implements DigiGOV™ Ease of Doing Business solution for quicker approvals and closure.

TCS DigiGOV™ Ease of Doing Business solution provides investors with a single-window access to all the departments that are involved in processing of applications related to investing in a region. Guidance partnered with TCS in September 2020 to implement a system that helps comply with the latest e-governance regulations charted out by the state’s single window agency[SS1] .

TCS studied the existing systems and conducted a detailed gap analysis to identify the areas of improvement, basis which it recommended its industry-leading solution – DigiGOV™ Ease of Doing Business. Equipped with the latest features such as a chatbot, mobile app, online payments engine, and so on, this portal is easy to use and allows a seamless experience to investors. It also offers an easy tracking mechanism to ensure transparency in the process and is integrated with dynamic dashboards for the government agency to monitor the progress of investor applications. The platform is integrated with the DigiGOV e-Office suite that enables easy handling of files, tracks attendance and leaves, manages tour requests, generates payroll, and much more.

Benefits

The single-window clearance system has enabled Guidance to improve investment inflow.

Hassle-free compliance is vital for the ease of doing business, and Tamil Nadu’s investment promotion agency, Guidance, experienced just that with the implementation of TCS DigiGOV solution. The agency saw marked improvements in the investment facilitation process. Key outcome areas were:

• Operational efficiency: Guidance was able to process more than 1,000 applications in just about three months of launching the portal. The integrated payments engine allowed speedy and hassle-free transactions.
• Customer experience: The single point acceptance and electronic distribution of applications has improved the overall experience by leaps and bounds as applicants do not need to visit the offices physically. Investors have 24x7 access to more than 100 services, at the click of a button.
• Governance: The portal provides a panoramic view of each application, capturing all the phases in the end-to-end process, thereby improving status tracking and overall governance. Additionally, the mobile version of the system enables monitoring on the go.