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 | Overall Rating | It was an attempt to | Other | The problem was | Other cause | Details of experience(desc) | Advice for others | Share my story with | Name | Contact no | Privacy Policy | Contact me | Display it | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27 | 16 Nov 2016 - 17:34 | Anonymous (not verified) | 203.122.16.122 | Easy to Do Business | IT | Rajasthan | Jaipur | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 4/5 |
Acquire land Get registration and licenses under labour laws Trade outside state/ country |
I set up an IT firm in Jaipur, Rajasthan. According to me, the only issue I had with the registration process is the lack of information available for someone to start the business. Apart from registration, I also acquired land, and got permissions for labour and trading outside the state. There is a lot of work to be done when it comes to acquiring industrial lands, or getting approvals from different offices. | My only advice to entrepreneurs would be - you need to have patience with the system if you want your work to be done. | Keep it Anonymous | Anonymous | 9982011116 | ajay.seth@syoninfomedia.com | I have read and I agree with the Privacy Policy mentioned below | Yes | ||||
| 62 | 14 Dec 2016 - 14:46 | Prashant | 203.122.16.122 | Not Easy to Do Business | Media | Delhi | Gurgaon | 3/5 | 1/5 | 1/5 | 2/5 |
Register the business Trade outside state/ country |
Delay by the department even though I completed the procedure |
I set up my media firm in Gurgaon earlier this year. In short, it wasn't easy to start a business. I never intended to do everything myself- my dad had suggested that I hire a CA not only to handle my finances, but also finish up this procedure. But I wanted to see the situation for myself, so I decided to accompany him the first day. To my surprise, even my CA had employed someone to do the work for him. I followed this one guy around, who seemed to have undergone this process a thousand times - he was so unfazed by the sea of people around him. I lost him on a couple of occasions, but in one line or the other, we would be reunited. I asked him if he wanted me to stand in any line for him, but he refused, and told me he had a "setting" with the office people. After the first couple of lines, he used to just keep the documents on the clerk's desks, and way away, with no regard for the line of people behind him. Some shouted, some gave dirty looks. However, he was always unfazed. I was surprised at his lack of care for others, and we got done by lunchtime. A week and a half later, I had my permits and registration licences, and my business was ready to go. |
Hire a CA! Makes the job, much, much easier. | Senior Department Officials | Prashant Rastogi | 8821899840 | prashantrastogi67@gmail.com | I have read and I agree with the Privacy Policy mentioned below | Yes | |||
| 82 | 16 Dec 2016 - 16:26 | Prashant | 203.122.16.122 | Not Easy to Do Business | IT | Delhi | New Delhi | 3/5 | 2/5 | 1/5 | 2/5 |
Register the business Trade outside state/ country |
Can’t find information |
I started an IT firm, but it fizzled out within two months. I shortly left the country, and am currently working in San Francisco. Here are the reasons why it didn't work out, and probably never will: 1) Over-demanding yet non-competent talent pool. Bad work ethics. So many graduates, but none employable. In contrast, in Phillipines, you have technically qualified people with no degrees who have tons of freelance work to show as their experience. 2) One employee stole our circuit designs and disappears. Another faked his qualifications. Another got run over while transporting one of our items, we gave compensation to his family but couldn't find the culprit. Installed cameras in trucks where between each state- the police ended up demanding something from truckers! 3) Accounting is really confusing and messy. Border between legal and illegal is very very thin. One of my over enthusiastic employee bribed the customs official and later asked for compensation from the company - imagine what kind of accounting magics you can employ to cover it up among extremely ambiguous and contradictory laws ? Most accountants are part time money launderers. If you are an honest soul, this country isn't for you- sorry, no other way to put it! 4) We imported materials. Customs took items worth double digit lakhs as hostage for stupid reasons. Not much problems in Phillipines or Indonesia. Don't even want to begin talking about the pain we had to go through to export stuff! 5) Clients (read: Scammers) who don't pay, drying up our cash flow. Our clients were renowned businesses in India. 6) Suppliers who take money upfront and don't deliver (read: scammers 2.0). Also renowned businesses in India. 7) Government tenders - bribes, very short notice, unrealistic conditions, money hold up. They expect us to maintain their servers when they don't even have electricity, and blame us for the results of this power outage despite giving recommendations to buy a backup generator. When will babus know the difference between IT and power companies ? 9) Insurance guys who had weird clauses only found in this country. Never trust them - this includes government insurance companies who expect something for validating claims 10) Regulations, Licenses, Permits, Certificates (read: babudom and bribery). Documentation and paperwork is cumbersome and demotivating. 11) Venture Capitalists don't have much funds (compared to Singapore or Canada), inexperienced and hate anything about hardware or technology based businesses (probably they are aware of how risky it was to start in India) - will only prefer e-commerce intermediaries and IIT mafias. The amounts they are willing to invest was less than what I saved working for 3 months in the West. |
Move elsewhere, India isn't the place to do business. | Keep it Anonymous | Anonymous | - | abcd@gmail.com | I have read and I agree with the Privacy Policy mentioned below | Yes | |||
| 21 | 16 Nov 2016 - 15:07 | Anonymous (not verified) | 203.122.16.122 | Not Easy to Do Business | Travel & Tourism | Maharashtra | Mumbai | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | Register the business | Delay by the department even though I completed the procedure | I started my Travel and Tourism business in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It wasn’t easy for me start the business. I made an attempt to register my business and my experience of registering it was not at all a good experience. The information regarding the processes involved in registering the business is not at all lucid and clear. I had to wait in the queue for more than two hours until my number was called. And there was a coupon system in place and the coupons were available only until 11.00 am. To sum it up, getting my business registered wasn’t an easy task at all. | My advice to other entrepreneurs would be that please make sure you carry all the possible documents so that the process becomes simpler for you and you don’t have to go again and again or run from pillar to post to get your business registered or for any other procedures. | Both | Akshata Jathar | 9920331347 | akshatajathar57@gmail.com | I have read and I agree with the Privacy Policy mentioned below | Keep me updated about responses to my report and experience. | Yes | ||
| 34 | 16 Nov 2016 - 18:01 | Anonymous (not verified) | 203.122.16.122 | Not Easy to Do Business | Marketing | Maharashtra | Pune | 2/5 | 4/5 | 4/5 | 3/5 | Register the business | Can’t find information |
I tried to register a marketing firm in Pune, in order to kick-start my career. The process itself took hardly two weeks from when I applied, but it involved a lot of running around for my family. Since I am a resident of Delhi, most of my documents were back at home. Thus, my family had to post them. Fortunately, they arrived on time. But I had to submit two identification proofs, so I had to get a driving licence made within a month solely for the purpose of identification, since I did not possess an Aadhar or a voting card – I just had a my passport. One of the main issues I had was the lack of information that was available- which office do I go to. Can I register a name in Pune and use it later in Delhi? Which desk was I supposed to go to? What are the working hours? None of the information was available online, so my father suggested that I hire a CA to register it for me. After hiring the CA, the process was very smooth. I don’t understand why I had to hire the CA, though. This is the problem with our country- the requirement of middlemen to conduct business. I think this is the worst problem that hampers the conduct of business in our country- it should definitely be made easier for citizens to start a business if we wished to! |
Hire a CA or legal experts so that your processes of registering the business and other formalities are faster and smoother. | Media | Tushar | 8860456044 | tushar.madan@tmad.co.in | I have read and I agree with the Privacy Policy mentioned below | Yes | |||
| 26 | 16 Nov 2016 - 17:27 | Anonymous (not verified) | 203.122.16.122 | Not Easy to Do Business | E-Commerce | Maharashtra | Mumbai | 1/5 | 1/5 | 1/5 | 1/5 | Register the business | Confusing laws that say different things |
I tried to set up an e-commerce firm myself in Mumbai. The whole process was just a big headache. You don't understand who is going to look after your concern as people are mostly busy with their own personal schedule and they don't even listen to you or have the time for your concerns or doubts. If you have to get your work done, you have to wait for them to get free and eventually bend a little and be extra buttery to ask them to do your job. When they start doing your work, they would ask you questions in Marathi and that's the most irritating part if you have to register your start up in Maharashtra. Come on, you have to be kidding me, asking me to do something in Marathi! I got the form in English, and Marathi is never simple to comprehend. They use terms in the form and expect us to know the terms. Had we known those terms, we would have not asked for their help. |
Get someone to get your work done. Take a Charted Accountant’s or a lawyer’s help. You would forget about who you are when you step into the mess they are into. The lawyer or the Charted Accountant would handle everything for you. |
Keep it Anonymous | Anonymous | 9820933429 | ramesh.joshi65@gmail.com | I have read and I agree with the Privacy Policy mentioned below | Yes | |||
| 8 | 27 Sep 2016 - 12:31 | Anonymous (not verified) | 106.222.56.83 | Not Easy to Do Business | Trading | Delhi | Delhi | 3/5 | 2/5 | 1/5 | 2/5 | Register property | Can’t find information | I wanted to know if my property comes under commercial area or not? There was no website or any designated place where I could go and find this out. This was a problematic thing I faced while registering my property. | NA | Keep it Anonymous | Anonymous | 8130959618 | tusharsingal1510@gmail.com | I have read and I agree with the Privacy Policy mentioned below | Yes | |||
| 2 | 12 Apr 2016 - 17:57 | Shashi | 203.122.16.122 | Not Easy to Do Business | Banking | Delhi | N Delhi | 3/5 | 1/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | Other | Open Bank account | Can’t find information | I wanted to open a bank account for my proprietorship firm. Banks kept me asking for the PAN card for the firm and Service tax / sales tax registration certificate. However, for a proprietorship firm, PAN card of proprietor works for firm as well. Also, being a new firm, and not foreseeing the turnover crossing 2 lakh for the first year, it wasn't necessary to go for service / sales tax registration. | Don't start a proprietorship firm if you are looking at a very small turnover. | Both | Vikram Saluja | 9999999999 | vikram.saluja@vsaluja.com | I have read and I agree with the Privacy Policy mentioned below | Keep me updated about responses to my report and experience. | Yes | |
| 31 | 16 Nov 2016 - 17:52 | Anonymous (not verified) | 203.122.16.122 | Not Easy to Do Business | Financial Advisory | Maharashtra | Pune | 2/5 | 1/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | Other | Filing tenders | Can’t find information |
I was told it would take five years for me to get a permanent certificate for my financial services company and until then a temporary certificate would be issued. I bribed Rs. 6,000 and got the registration certificate in three days. My father already had one manufacturing business and intended to open a new business. Since he did not have the time to run around for completing the formalities, we had to hire an accountant and he charged us Rs. 40,000. Like most of the other entrepreneurs, even I had experienced what it really meant to go to bureaucrats and experienced red tape. I had to go various people for ‘n’ number of signatures and stamps. There were so many corrections I had to make in multiple documents to get my company registered. I don’t think there is anything called as – ‘single window clearance’. My father had to set up a chemical plant and had to wait for a year to get environmental clearances. He also had to pay bribes along the way and despite wait for a year. How do we make in India if we are not allowed to make in India? There is no clear knowledge about how to start a company. Most of the people are of the opinion that a lot of money is required to start a company. I started my company with Rs. 8,000 out of which Rs. 6,000 was a bribe. Even if people have some really fascinating ideas, they don’t start a company because they think that it will cost them a lot. The tendering process of the government is flawed and corrupt. It is always given to people who are ‘known’ to the government officials. Once when we managed to get a contract on a fair basis because we really did quote low prices, we were called and blasted by an official. He asked us how we could take up the project when we had no clue about the place where the project was going to start. He finally introduced us to an agent who had taken care of all the previous people who had managed to get the contracts. This is my experience of Pune, Maharashtra. I have no clue how does it work anywhere else in the country. |
It doesn’t take a lot of money to start up a business. So don’t be hesitant if you are thinking about the money and finances are your only concern. | Senior Department Officials | Jason Richardson | - | slamdunk2003@yahoo.com | I have read and I agree with the Privacy Policy mentioned below | Yes | ||
| 29 | 16 Nov 2016 - 17:44 | Anonymous (not verified) | 203.122.16.122 | Not Easy to Do Business | Branding | Gujarat | Ahemdabad | 2/5 | 1/5 | 1/5 | 2/5 | Register the business | Other | Didn't know anything about bureaucracy |
In my opinion, it is absolutely not easy to conduct business in India. I tried to establish a brand that produces sunglasses in Ahemdabad, Gujarat. Aside from the total lack of information, I had to submit completely unnecessary documents. I fail to understand as to why my phone bill was required, when I’m already submitting another documents for address proof? I still don't know why they need so many documents. I did not have any foresight, and it was made worse by the bureaucracy at the government offices, where nobody really knew anything. I had to go to various offices and stand in the queue to figure out which document is required by which window. I also did not have a team, and thought I could do everything by myself - one can't fight the bureaucracy alone! |
I acted a bit prematurely in terms of starting a business, but I advise other budding entrepreneurs to establish a team from the start, and trust them. I thought I could run around and do the paperwork myself, but one requires legal help in establishing a business in this country for sure. You cannot do everything on your own even if you are of the idea that you know the procedures. If you want to excel in a certain sector, you need to know the sector in and out. | Media | Siddhant | 9033227176 | sjgupta010@yahoo.in | I have read and I agree with the Privacy Policy mentioned below | Yes |