Lanka start-up listings go online for first time

Wednesday, 22 January 2014 00:01 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Seven day process slashed to 24 hours
Live from October 2014
Online registrations possible even from overseas
$ 1.24 m outlay Partnering with E-Wis

In its thrust to stren-gthen the private sector, Sri Lanka is moving its start-up listing process online for the first time. “I wish this new initiative the best. I am hopeful that our listings would go online by this October,” said Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen yesterday, addressing the signatories of the E-Registration of the Companies Project agreement at the Ministry of Industry and Commerce.

The pioneering project, at an outlay of $ 1.24 million, is executed by E-W Information Systems Ltd. for the Registrar of Companies under the Ministry of Industry and Comm-erce. The signatories of the agreement yesterday were the Registrar General of Companies D.N.R. Siriwardena and E-W Information Systems Ltd. Director Roseanne Wijayanayaka. Accordingly, once the online system goes live in October, the seven-day duration for a new company registration will dramatically shortened to a mere 24 hours, provided the submissions are in order. All the necessary documentation could be submitted online as well as payments too could be made online. “The main objective is to reduce unnecessary time consuming paperwork and help more start-up listings as well as to speed up the process,” said Siriwardena. “This does not result in any discontinuation of the current manual process. Anyone still wishing to register manually can come to the Department and register their firms as usual. One important aspect is that even foreigners can register their companies in Sri Lanka from their countries. Once online application is paid and successful, the Certificate of Registration will be posted to the registrant’s address,” he added. The Department of Registrar of Companies, in developing and fostering a trusted business environment by making available an effective regulatory regime capable of instilling a culture of good governance covering the business sector in Sri Lanka, implements, administers and enforces the Companies Act No. 7 of 2007, the Societies Ordinance Chapter 123, the Cheetu Ordinance No.61 of 1935 and the Public Contracts Act No. 3 of 1987. The total number of new companies registered under the Companies Act No.7 of 2007 up to 15 September 2013 recorded 37,360. The number of companies under liquidation for the same period was only 261. “Since this is an end-to-end automation of functions of the Department, all the current transactions could be done online as well, even from abroad. The payment gateway is credit card empowered. All the payments, including annual renewal fees, could be made online from a computer after October, since this is an enterprise level application,” said Wijayanayaka. E-W Information Systems is an IT system integrator and a subsidiary of the parent E-Wis. Another subsidiary of parent E-Wis is E-Wis Colombo Ltd., which, with the partnership of Microsoft, rolled out Sri Lanka’s first-ever EU certification grade laptops last year from its Assembly Plant at Sooriyawewa in Hambantota.