eGovWatch: Government launches online facility for firms to file single return

The Labour Ministry today launched an online facility for firms to file a common return on its portal to comply with as many as eight labour laws at one go, saying that the move will improve ease of doing business and reduce costs.

“Instead of filing multiple returns, now they (firms) can file single unified return which will reduce cost of business transaction,” Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya said after launching the facility on Shram Suvidha portal.

He said that the idea is to ensure ease of doing business and pushing the government’s ‘Make in India’ programme.

“As many as 8 returns under labour laws would be covered under this single unified return. The remaining two returns filed with EPFO and ESIC would also be brought under the scheme in few months,” Labour Secretary Shankar Aggarwal told reporters here.

He said that the eight returns which were filed under 8 labour laws like Payment of Wages Act and Industrial Disputes Act are unified at the first instance because there is no payment involved while filing those.”

“The filing of the EPFO and ESIC returns include making payment towards the social security schemes run by these bodies. Therefore it would take sometime to bring those under this scheme eventually,” he added.

ShramSuvidha portal was launched in October last year by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to improve the ease of doing business and to push Make in India programme to boost economy.

The facility for allotment of Labour Identification Number (LIN) and the transparent inspection scheme were activated on the Web Portal since then.

As many as 9.39 lakh firms have been issued LIN for facilitating central inspection scheme and filing of single common return for complying with various labour laws.

Labour Ministry has developed the unified web-portal ‘Shram Suvidha Portal’, catering to four major Organisations under it — Office of Chief Labour Commissioner (Central), Directorate General of Mines Safety, Employees’ Provident Fund Organization and Employees’ State Insurance Corporation.

Now the portal will not only facilitates firms to register online for LIN but also allow them to file self-certified and simplified single online return. They have been filing separate returns for complying with different labour laws.

Under the new transparent labour inspection scheme the inspections are done using computerised systems based on risk based criteria. It mandates labour inspector to upload the inspection reports within 72 hours.

One of the objectives of the portal is timely redressal of grievances.