NOT Easy to Do Business
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# | Submitted | User | IP address | It was | Sector / Industry | State / UT | City | Response-time of officials | Number of documents to be submitted | Availability of information about the process(desc) | Overall Rating | It was an attempt to | Other | The problem was | Other cause | Details of experience | Advice for others | Share my story with | Name | Contact no | Privacy Policy | Contact me | Display it | |
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71 | 15 Dec 2016 - 17:21 | Prashant | 49.204.110.82 | Easy to Do Business | Software/IT | Delhi | Gurgaon | 3/5 | 3/5 | 1/5 | 2/5 | Register the business | Registering an online company under sole proprietorship is the easiest way to run a business in this country. I did mine that way, and it took less than three days for it to come through. My business was up and running three days after that. | I honestly think others make a big deal out of starting a business in India. All one has to do is talk to someone who has done this before- they'll guide you. | Both | Mayank Gupta | 99876547864 | mayankgupta52@gmail.com | I have read and I agree with the Privacy Policy mentioned below | Yes | ||||
72 | 16 Dec 2016 - 08:41 | Prashant | 49.204.110.82 | Easy to Do Business | Food | Delhi | Gurgaon | 2/5 | 3/5 | 1/5 | 2/5 | Register the business |
Getting the permits was not an issue, apart from finding information about it. I did everything myself, and got all the permits within a month, and my food supply company was up and running within six weeks. The real problem arises after you start the business. The attitude of customers/vendors/clients. People feel no remorse about wasting someone's time, or indulging in petty cheating. Of course things like these are present in the west too, but the magnitude is different. Oh, and this is more present in North India than in South! This reflected even while I was getting my permits- people just wasted everyone else's time, if it meant getting their work done five or ten minutes earlier. |
Be mindful of people. Don't give anyone any way in your lines. | Senior Department Officials | Sumit Pathak | 9873056915 | pathaksumit@gmail.com | I have read and I agree with the Privacy Policy mentioned below | Yes | ||||
74 | 16 Dec 2016 - 11:39 | Prashant | 49.204.110.82 | Not Easy to Do Business | IT | Maharashtra | Mumbai | 1/5 | 1/5 | 1/5 | 1/5 | Register the business | Corrupt officials who asked for bribes |
1) Bribe to complete registration of proprietorship. Didn't have to give bribe for registration of private limited company thankfully. 2) No clarity on taxes. For example, when you pay someone for a service, you have to cut 10% TDS. Now, if that person is Amazon and they are a MNC with offices in India and you pay them for their servers - do you deduct TDS? Amazon wants full payment. I talked to a dozen CAs and even a friend of mine in Indian Revenue Service, all of them had no clue. But they suggested me to pay the TDS just to be safe. So I had to pay Amazon the full amount and then 10% on top of that to Dear Govt of India. 100s of scenarios like this with no clarity. 3) Investment laws are a mess. Angel investments go straight into books of account as income and are taxed. God help you if you ever receive a FDI, I finally returned the money to the investor (it was 5 lakhs), as the amount of running around I had to do was not worth it for that small amount. 4) Terrible legal system- it's effectively a joke. An acquisition for one of my products fell through because the acquirer didn't want to make disputes subject to Indian jurisdiction in the contract because, in his own words, "the Indian legal system isn't held in very high regard here (Australia)" 5) High cost of doing businesses. My gateway charges a 5% premium (so 3%+5%) for Indian businesses, because of the increased costs of operation. So, while an American company can charge only 3%, I have to settle for 8%. So many other small little things - it's like death by a thousand cuts. |
It's a tough road, starting and conducting business in India. Be prepared for a lot of hardships. | Keep it Anonymous | Anonymous | - | abcd@gmail.com | I have read and I agree with the Privacy Policy mentioned below | Yes | |||
75 | 16 Dec 2016 - 12:06 | Prashant | 49.204.110.82 | Not Easy to Do Business | Steel | Delhi | Gurgaon | 1/5 | 1/5 | 1/5 | 1/5 | Register the business | Submitting the same document to different departments |
Government offices are a massive, massive pain to deal with. Even a bigger pain is dealing with the officials. Huge lines, obscure offices, forms that sometimes exist and sometimes don't, always angry and lethargic staff. My co-founder and I spent an entire day collecting random forms, but in the end gave up and paid 5k to a clerk who got the job done within an hour. |
Avoid spending your time and grey matter on running around, and hire somebody to do it for you. | Keep it Anonymous | Anonymous | - | abcd@gmail.com | I have read and I agree with the Privacy Policy mentioned below | Yes | |||
76 | 16 Dec 2016 - 12:25 | Prashant | 49.204.110.82 | Not Easy to Do Business | Investment | Delhi | New Delhi | 1/5 | 1/5 | 1/5 | 1/5 | Other | Investment was troublesome | Confusing laws that say different things |
As an NRI, I invested 5 lakhs in 2005 in an infrastructure fund in 2005. Due to US compliance, it was very cumbersome to keep it functional. I was in India for the last two months and was not able to liquidate it due to one excuse or the other- first it was getting documents from all corners, and then demonetisation. Excuse 1. Signature does not match. Excuse 2. Your application does not mention what type of bank account you have. (A cancelled copy of the cheque was attached, and it clearly stated it is a savings account) Excuse 3. ID not attached. (Copy of PAN number was filed with the application) So my money is stuck for another year at least. |
Don't invest in Indian companies. | Keep it Anonymous | Anonymous | - | abcd@gmail.com | I have read and I agree with the Privacy Policy mentioned below | Yes | ||
77 | 16 Dec 2016 - 13:51 | Prashant | 203.122.16.122 | Not Easy to Do Business | Manufacturing SME | Delhi | Noida | 2/5 | 1/5 | 1/5 | 2/5 |
Register the business Pay taxes |
Confusing laws that say different things |
There are various problems if one wants to start their own business in India. Firstly, the confusion of requirements to start business. Unless you contact a broker or a CA, you cannot get required certificates done. Secondly, taxation. There are whole lot of tax procedures which are too complicated. VAT, CST, Income tax, TDS- the list is endless. There are too many loopholes and too many things to take care of. Every month, the tax clerk comes to our office and takes 300 rupees just to ensure we are compliant and in no trouble, and gives his signature on our monthly VAT returns. If we dont pay him, it would atleast take 2 days of our time to get things done properly. |
Hire a good CA or a broker. Bribes are commonplace; don't be surprised if you're asked for one. | Keep it Anonymous | Anonymous | - | abcd@gmail.com | I have read and I agree with the Privacy Policy mentioned below | Yes | |||
78 | 16 Dec 2016 - 13:58 | Anonymous (not verified) | 203.122.16.122 | Not Easy to Do Business | Online sales | Delhi | New Delhi | 1/5 | 1/5 | 1/5 | 1/5 | Trade outside state/ country | Confusing laws that say different things |
Amazon operates in 13 countries worldwide. However, only amazon.in requires the seller to have a company registration certificate and a VAT certificate to even register as a seller. Make In India, my foot! Decided to sell on amazon.com. I'm very idealistic too. After reading all the replies on our website, I'm depressed and shattered. I don't think I can ever get myself to bribe someone. Don't have any connections too(even if I did, I don't think I would be very comfortable using them!). Feeling helpless at the moment- it shouldn't be this difficult to start a business, should it? |
Don't pay bribes! | Senior Department Officials | Rashid Naushad | - | abcd@gmail.com | I have read and I agree with the Privacy Policy mentioned below | Yes | |||
79 | 16 Dec 2016 - 14:12 | Prashant | 203.122.16.122 | Not Easy to Do Business | Education | Delhi | Noida | 2/5 | 1/5 | 1/5 | 1/5 | Register the business | Other | Customers |
People are unwilling to pay. Period. You can deal with all the bureaucracy, but what can you do if people just don't want to pay? Ad based model is not feasible for every product. Till now, I have mostly focused on the Indian market. I still think there is a huge opportunity. For example, consider admission process in educational institutes, their examination processes etc. Most of them are still manual and quite cumbersome. But like I said, to convince them to pay is quite a challenge. |
Costumers won't pay for your product, no matter how novel your idea. Even in a supposedly "free" market like ours, there is a lot of red tape. | Keep it Anonymous | Anonymous | - | abcd@gmail.com | I have read and I agree with the Privacy Policy mentioned below | Yes | ||
80 | 16 Dec 2016 - 14:53 | Prashant | 203.122.16.122 | Easy to Do Business | Marketing | Andhra Pradesh | Hyderabad | 3/5 | 3/5 | 1/5 | 3/5 | Register the business |
I own a digital marketing agency and run a small cafe in Hyderabad. We offer premium web services, branding, content creation (including promo videos, blogs, etc) and PPC management for e-commerce clients and product companies who want a premium look and feel. This is my primary business. Starting the business wasn't an issue at all. Andhra Pradesh is very conducive when it comes to start-ups, so I didn't have too much of an issue, though I did hire a CA to look after the process. Overall, didn't really have any problems. |
Keep all your documents in order, right from the time you think about starting a business- address proofs, credit records, etc. | Keep it Anonymous | Anonymous | - | abcd@gmail.com | I have read and I agree with the Privacy Policy mentioned below | Yes | ||||
81 | 16 Dec 2016 - 16:10 | Prashant | 203.122.16.122 | Not Easy to Do Business | E-Commerce | Haryana | Panchkula | 2/5 | 3/5 | 1/5 | 2/5 |
Register the business Trade outside state/ country |
Other | Sustaining the business |
The one we're starting now is an e-commerce business for a niche consumer good. We want to share things about everything about the business; starting from how we decided on the product and the business model, about marketing and gaining initial traction. We're trying to figure out social media, even though we both are kind of shy on the social networks. We might have a lot of resources on startups from the US and other countries. But a fact of the matter is that starting something in India (as we've learned) is a different beast. We need to start discussing things in the open so that we can learn from each other. |
Plan well. Starting a business isn't the tough bit, sustaining it is. | Keep it Anonymous | Anonymous | - | abcd@gmail.com | I have read and I agree with the Privacy Policy mentioned below | Yes |