| 4. In which ways is the initiative creative and innovative?
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The details of base line study done
Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises and Textiles Department, Government of West Bengal carried out extensive interaction with the MSME entrepreneurs and consultation with Chambers of Commerce, Industry Associations to improve the business environment and ease of doing business.
Problems identified
For lack of access to information, availability of adequate & timely credit, access to appropriate technology etc, the MSME Entrepreneurs are required to run around various departments / banks /agencies / offices for enquiry, consultation, guidance and finally to submit application to various government departments. Apart from the usual harassment they often become victims of unscrupulous agents/touts. Even after all this, multiple visits are required to the concerned offices /banks for follow up and for final collection of certificate/license., sanction of loan etc. This remains one of the biggest challenges and a disincentive for an entrepreneur to start a new venture or to diversify or expand.
Organization of event-‘SYNERGY MSME’
The Department of MSME&T has already organized one state level and three regional level SYNERGY, the unique and branded event to address the various issues of MSMEs under one umbrella with all departments related to MSME sector, banks/FIs, service providers, Chambers of Commerce/Industry Associations, NGOs for trouble shooting, clarification and providing on spot solutions & services of their issues, process streamlining and for capacity building of officers & entrepreneurs.
Capacity building of officers/ entrepreneurs
All officers of the Directorate of MSME from Joint Director to Industrial Development Officers are being trained by Indian Institute of Management Calcutta in a phased manner to transform them to industry facilitator from industry regulator. They have also undergone courses on Project Management / Financial Literacy by experts of ‘Intuit’.
For capacity building of entrepreneurs several courses on EDP, Financial Literacy, Corporate Governance etc are being organized in the business conclave “SYNERGY MSME”.
Infrastructure Development/monitoring
- Digitized office for MFC at DIC having online service facility.
- Creation of resource library (Acts, Rules, Circulars, orders etc).
- Specially trained dedicated officers under the guidance of General Manager, DIC.
- Industry friendly environment.
- Tagging of Relationship Officer to entrepreneurs intend to set up an enterprise
- Monitoring by Directorate/ Department
Roll out/ implementation model
The portal is web-based and can be accessed free of cost from any location on 24x7 basis.
Communication and dissemination strategy and approach used
The portal provides simplified version of all information to make them easy to understand even by a lay person. The portal is also being developed in Bengali language to ensure citizen friendliness for all categories of users.
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| 5. Who implemented the initiative and what is the size of the population affected by this initiative?
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Extensive and regular Interaction with entrepreneurs, Chambers of Commerce/Industry associations for problem identification
- Taking up the problems with concerned departments, organized meetings for process simplification, avoid redundancy, reduce complexities, introduction of online services
- Simplification of relevant Acts & Rules, get them vetted from concerned departments.
- All officers of the Directorate of MSME from Joint Director to Industrial Development Officers are being trained by Indian Institute of Management Calcutta in a phased manner to transform them to industry facilitator from industry regulator. They have also undergone courses on Project Management / Financial Literacy by experts of ‘Intuit’.
- For capacity building of entrepreneurs several courses on Entrepreneurship Development Programme (EDP) , Financial Literacy, Corporate Governance etc are being organized in the business conclave “SYNERGY MSME” to obtain feedback from the community.
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| 6. How was the strategy implemented and what resources were mobilized?
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• The web portal myenterprisewb was developed by professional agency
• The contents of the site is generated in consultation with all the stakeholders under the guidance of the Department of MSME&T, GoWB
• A professional agency has developed the Single Application Gateway pilot module under the overall consultation with the different departments of the State Government.
• Over 75 government departments, banks/financial institution, knowledge institutions, private service providers, NGOs are being consulted.
• NIESSBUD has been engaged by the Department for setting up the MSME Facilitation Center, which aims in providng facilitation support to the entrepreneurs in collaboration with the information available in myenterprisewb portal and Single Application Gateway.
• Orientation and Workshops have been carried out with the District Industries Centre (DIC) officials together with the officials of the other departments.
• The initiative is funded by the Government of West Bengal.
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| 7. Who were the stakeholders involved in the design of the initiative and in its implementation?
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a. Acts and Rules: myenterprisewb.in portal provides simplified versions of relevant portions of different Acts and Rules in an attempt to make them easy to understand even by an ordinary person.
b. Government Incentives & My Entitlements: This portal provides a detail of incentives as covered under various policies of Government of West Bengal.
Reading through different incentive policies and government circulars gives sufficient information on the benefits/ incentives that an entrepreneur is entitled for. Based on the information provided by the user of this portal, a checklist of entitlements is displayed that would help the entrepreneur plan its project accordingly or claim them from the concerned department office.
c. Statutory compliance: Entrepreneurs are not aware of many compliances that apply to its enterprise. This portal attempts to reduce the burden of search on the entrepreneur. There is a format given here that the entrepreneur needs to fill in to provide all the necessary information about its enterprise. Once the fully filled-in proforma is submitted a checklist of statutory compliances required for that particular enterprise is provided.
d. On-line filing of Entrepreneur’s Memorandum (EM) and Factory Licesnse: This portal provides filing of EM-Part I & EM-Part II on-line replacing the earlier system of manual filing.
This portal also provides the facility of making application for registration or renewal of Factory license on-line, with provision of getting system generated acknowledgement.
Single Application Gateway (SAG) - New Models of Service Delivery. This is one of the most unique features of this portal. It provides facility of applying for various permissions, NOCs, licenses, permits, intimation etc. to different government offices. An application made through SAG straightway goes to MSME Facilitation Centre (MFC) set up in every District Industries Centre which has been acting as a dedicated service provider in respect of all kinds of issues related to MEME sector from submission of application to delivery of certificates/ licenses etc. Necessary counselling, handholding support to entrepreneurs is done by the centre. The MFC is managed by dedicated & specially trained officers.
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| 8. What were the most successful outputs and why was the initiative effective?
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Regular feedback from Chambers of Commerce/ Industry Associations are undertaken to ensure that the initiative has huge impact among entrepreneurs and they are using this portal to their advantages. Various entrepreneurs and industry associations have provided positive feedback (over 40,000 nos.) on the benefits of the portal particularly related to significantly reducing the difficulties faced by entrepreneurs and businesses in complying with regulatory requirements and savings in the cost and time for obtaining information and getting approvals for starting and operating a business.
The Department of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises and Textiles is monitoring the portal and based on the suggestions/ feedback from different Chambers of Commerce, Industry Associations, related Government Departments and entrepreneurs , the portal is updated and further improvement is undertaken to cater the needs of the entrepreneurs arising from time to time.
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| 9. What were the main obstacles encountered and how were they overcome?
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• Challenge in obtaining complete information from the various government departments.
• The updation of the contents of the portal with respect to latest Laws, Acts, Policies, Incentives and Statutory Compliance forms and other related information are undertaken by professional agency to ensure that the information provided to the entrepreneurs are always up-to-date.
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