Hi guys,

They are back at it again. The Department of Company Affair (DCA) is a part of the ministry of finance. They have converted all their offline sysetems, forms, etc to online where you can make applications, file documents, etc connected with private and public limited companies.

To make life simpler, they have come up with the concept of a PFO (an outsourced Public Front Office). That means, if you are qualified and meet their criteria, you can set up a small facility (you need 2-5 pcs, scanners, internet connection, etc) where people can come and use your facility to do the online with with DCA. First, people who do not have things like digital signature can use the facility to get their work done, and those who do not want to spend time figuring out how to use the system can come and use your facilty as your office staff will fill it in for them. There will be no need for anyone to go to the Registror of Companies (ROC) or the office of DCA. This will become more important in smaller cities where ROC office is not there and currently people are travelling to ROC offices. Also the PFO will help in issue of Company Director Identity numbers, digital signatures, etc.

The rules for this has been issued in June 2006 as a part of the DCA-21 project. The rules specifically say that you MUST have PCs with Windows XP or Windows 2000 professional loaded on the PCs or you are not eligible for setting up the front office. So, you can not use a Linux based system though it would be more than able to do what the DCA PFO is being asked to do.

I hope Dr. Nagarjuna and others can take this up to the government. I can provide anyone who needs, a copy of the rules as they have been published in the Management Accounting Journal.

Regards Saswata