Sri Lanka’s Department of the Registration of Companies to launch online registration portal this month
The Department of the Registration of Companies (DRC) in Sri Lanka is to launch its online registration portal by the end of this month.
Registrar General of Companies D.N.R. Siriwardena has reportedly said the move would make business registration much easier and less cumbersome.
The local media reports state that KPMG Sri Lanka was the supplier of the automated solution for this e-Registration of Companies Project (e-ROC), he disclosed adding that Informatics Co. has developed the software and web based platform.
The total cost of the project has been estimated at Rs. 57 million and it has been borne by the Companies Fund of the DRC.
The Registrar General has observed that the new web-based platform has been installed with the aim of saving entrepreneurs or their representatives the trouble of having to visit the company registrar office in Colombo in person to hand over duly filled registration forms and make payments or to file their returns annual reports and other relevant documents.
Once the web portal is launched entrepreneurs based in the outstations especially in rural areas will be able to register their companies and make payments online without coming to Colombo, reports state.
According to reports, this will reduce the paper work and expedite the company registration process, he said, adding that entrepreneurs will have to simply fill the details of their companies online or via SMS and make payment using their credit or debit cards.
The DRC will also introduce an electronic document management system and a dedicated call centre for customers to reduce the time for registration and filing of statutory information and to improve the data quality for both the government and the public.
Even foreigners can register their companies in Sri Lanka from their countries online, by paying through the nominated credit cards.
Once the online application is paid and is successful, the Certificate of Incorporation will be posted to the registrants address if requested, the Registrar General has stated.
Since this is an end-to-end automation of functions of the Department, all the current transactions could be done online and manual as well, he said pointing out that the payment gateway is credit card-empowered.
“The main aim of the e-ROC project is to reduce unnecessary time consuming paperwork and help more startup registration as well as to speed up the process,” Siriwardena has been quoted as saying in the local media.
OSL take:
The online portal of the DRC would minimize the hassle involved in registering a company and would also make it easier and quicker foreigners to also register companies in Sri Lanka. If any foreign national was earlier prevented from registering a company in Sri Lanka due to the hassle involved in the process, they would soon able to do their work at the Sri Lankan DRC online from their companies in their respective countries.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/20180320/Z_3 |