KATHMANDU, MAY 19 -
The usually bustling premises of the Office of the Company Registrar
(OCR) at Tripureshwor are almost deserted these days. People from
different parts of the country flock here for all kinds of paperwork
related to companies; but last Sunday, it looked like an isolated zone
even though it was a normal work day.
The first sight that greets visitors to the OCR used to be government
officials surrounded by a crowd making inquiries. However, there were
only a few people at the office that day, and the officials were focused
on their computers.
This dramatic transformation of the OCR is the result of a shift from
manual operation to an electronic system. In October 2012, the OCR
introduced online registration of companies, and the service was
officially launched on Feb 8, 2013. Since October 2013, online
registration has become mandatory while it was optional in the initial
stages.
After the launching of online services, people can get tasks such as
registration, dissolution and other administrative work done through the
internet. They can visit the OCR’s web site <www.ocr.gov.np> and
do most of the tasks online eliminating
the need to travel to its office physically.
In order to complete the registration process, company representatives
need to make a one-time visit to the OCR office at Tripureshwor or the
district office of the Department of Cottage and Small Industries in
Lalitpur to pay registration charges and register their official
signatures as digital signatures have not yet been recognized in the
country.
“The online service has made it very easy for us to function,” said
Shankar Aryal, registrar at the OCR. “The number of visitors to the OCR
has gone down by more than 40 percent, and we are expecting it to go
down further as people get used to the new system.”
According to Aryal, only those who are finding it difficult to handle
the online technology and those facing minor technology-related problems
are visiting the office in person. From October 2013, when OCR made it
mandatory for companies to get registered online, till May 18, 2014, a
total of 5,503 companies have been registered online.
During the same time frame, a total of 30,957 online users were
approved, while 680 are waiting for final approval. Similarly, the
number of online document submissions amounted to 54,675. As of now, a
total of 122,000 companies are estimated to be registered with the OCR.
Companies can now submit their annual reports and other necessary files
online after acquiring a user identity and password. Sitting in their
offices or at home, people can also track the progress of their file and
find out its current status.
The OCR implemented the online system in association with International
Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank Group. IFC has provided
technical support worth $ 500,000 through a project named the Business
Process Reengineering and Automation Project.
Along with the online service, the OCR has also devised a Company
Electronic Filing Directive 2013. The directive has envisioned managing
separate electronic registers to store documents of various companies
submitted to the OCR.
To make the service accessible, the OCR has signed agreements wi th the
Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI),
Computer Association of Nepal (CAN) and Nepal Bar Association (NBA) who
will be responsible for opening online service centres to assist people.
“So far, such online service centres has been established in
Biratnagar, Birgunj, Hetauda, Chitwan, Butwal and Pokhara,” said Aryal.
There is a help desk at the OCR where people having problems regarding
online company registration can seek help and get the job done. A total
of 13 employees have been hired in coordination with IFC to provide this
service.
Dinesh Sagar Bhusal, deputy registrar at the OCR, said that the office
was carrying out several other initiatives to make the operations more
efficient. The OCR also maintains an online database of the companies
registered till date.
The OCR is currently busy digitalizing old files in a systematized way.
Of the total 122,000 registered companies, information of about 95,000
companies have been entered in the database. The OCR has outsourced the
task to a private firm, and last Sunday they were busy handling the old
files. “The files which have been entered in our database can be
searched within 5 minutes,” said one of the staffers involved in the
process.
According to Bhusal, they have been scanning old files and uploading
them to the OCR’s web site from where the respective company can
retrieve them. “Every file has a specific barcode. Before taking the
file out, the code will be scanned through which our system will keep
track of where the file has been moving within the office premises,”
said Bhusal. “Every officer will be using the barcode system to help us
know where the file has reached.” The systematized process is expected
to be a big relief to the general public and government officials. The
OCR has designated three staff members to search for old files only.
“Once the entire database has been compiled, we will not need three
people working on it,” said Bhusal. The OCR has invested around Rs 2.5
million for the purpose and 15 outsourced people are handling the
process presently.
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