No. 1/1/2014-Stats
Government of India
Ministry of Corporate Affairs
(Statistics Division)
Date: July 25, 2014
MEMORANDUM FOR STANDING FINANCE COMMITTEE
Subject : Central Sector Plan Scheme "Corporate Data Management"
1. Proposal identification
1.1 Title of the proposal.
Central Sector Plan Scheme "Corporate Data Management"
1.2 Name of the sponsoring agency (Ministry/ Department/ Autonomous Body/ Central
PSE).
Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA), Government of India
1.3 Proposed duration of the proposal/Scheme.
2014-15 to 2016-17 (First Phase) and beyond
1.4 Total cost of the proposal over the proposed duration.
Rs. 33.94 Crore to be spent over 3 year period (2014-2017)
1.5 Nature of scheme: Central Sector/ Centrally Sponsored/Additional Central
Assistance
Central Sector Plan Scheme
2. Proposal Category
2.1 Please indicate which category the proposal belongs to:
New Plan Proposal not included in the current Plan period.
2.2.-2.2(b): Not Applicable
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2.3 please indicate whether in-principle approval of Planning Commission
has been obtained.
As per the extant procedure, In-Principle Approval of the Planning
Commission as well as final approval of SFC Memorandum is being
sought through this SFC Memorandum.
2.4. : Not Applicable
3. Justification for the Proposal
3.1 The justification for taking up new/ continuing the ongoing proposal
may be provided in terms of:
i) Demand and supply analysis to identify gaps.
BACKGROUND
Ministry of Corporate Affairs has been implementing an e-governance
project, "MCA21" since 2006. It has fully automated the process of
working and administration of the Companies Act. Companies are
mandated to file all documents relating to incorporation, compliance,
approvals, annual statutory returns, etc. electronically in the system. The
process of filings has resulted in the accumulation of a plethora of
information and MCA21 is now the electronic repository about Indian
corporate sector. As on 31.03.2014, the system stored information about
13.94 lakh companies registered under the Companies Act.
However, the utilization of the electronic information available in MCA
repository is very limited. Only few Government organizations access
some customized corporate sector data in response to their specific
requests on ad-hoc/ felt-need basis from time to time. Clearly, therefore,
this wealth of information is woefully underutilized.
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At present the Ministry is sharing corporate data in terms of number of
companies' registered/closed/active/dormant, etc. along with their paid -
up capital and authorized capital in its Annual Reports and Monthly
Information Bulletins. Unit level information on financial aggregates and
non-financial information relating to Indian corporates are not available
in the public domain. The level of dissemination to other stakeholders
such as credit rating agencies, business analyst, research organizations,
etc. is very limited.
Technically speaking, general public has access to company level
information on MCA Portal under a View Public Document or VPD,
which allows inspection of company specific public documents on
payment of prescribed fees. This facility has its limitations; it is not
possible to analyse data holistically through this mode as downloading
data company by company is impractical and cumbersome. An added
disadvantage is that information in VPD is not machine-readable which
makes analysis a very cumbersome exercise.
NEED FOR PROPOSED SCHEME: DEMAND SUPPLY GAP
The Ministry has been receiving requests from government and non-
government agencies, research institutes, individual researchers etc. for
updated, authentic company level information in the complete
enumeration frame. To effectively meet this demand it is necessary that
raw data undergoes processes like data cleaning, data pre-processing, data
mining and data analytics.
Data cleaning is the critical process of detecting, correcting/ removing
inaccurate information from the database. Data cleaning would involve
activities such as identification of correct economic activity, rectification
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of misreported company finance data, and estimating/collecting missing
data for each company.
Apart from accessing information readily available in the system, there is
a need to seek supplementary information from companies as and when
needed for policy analysis and regulation, etc. Matters like employment
details, export/import revenue, external finance transactions, quarterly
performance of companies, are some of the instances where different
agencies sought such information for which enabling provision exists in
section 405 of the Companies Act, 2013. This would, however, require
additional arrangements in terms of institutional set up and expertise.
Extensive stakeholder consultations in the form of seminars, workshops,
conferences, brain-storming, research studies and surveys would be
required to develop company level data format as well as to strengthen
the process of data mining & data analysis.
JUSTIFICATION FOR THE PLAN SCHEME
Collection of Statistics relating to Companies is one of the functions
exclusively assigned to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. The National
Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy2012 (NDSAP-2012)
implemented by Department of Electronics and Information Technology
(DEITY) requires Ministries/Departments to disseminate government
owned shareable data and information in a proactive and periodically
updatable manner. This Policy applies to all data created, generated,
collected and achieved using public funds provided by the Government of
India.
The measures outlined above require arrangements which can be made
within the Project mode. The Project would entail conversion of statutory
information into statistical information for data analysis. Given the
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importance of such statistical information for planning, research,
economic analysis and other such important purposes, it is imperative that
this Project is established as a Forward Linkage of MCA21.
It is proposed to implement the project on a pilot basis covering only
Listed public limited companies (about 7000 in number) during the
remaining 3 years of the 12th Plan (pilot phase). An extended Plan
Scheme could be considered for the next Plan Period to cover a larger
canvas if the present pilot yields gratifying results.
This being a pilot endeavour, definite outcomes will emerge after an
evaluation. It is however clear that the successful implementation of the
pilot itself will prove very useful in formulating suitable policies for
corporates' contribution to economic growth apart from enabling scholars
and stakeholders to develop insights in the working of major corporates
for better accountability and transparency.
ii) Conformity with the Plan Priorities and National objectives
Making businesses more responsible is one of the plan priorities.
Transparency in corporate functioning, which can be ensured through
appropriate disclosures by the corporates, is one necessary condition for
making business responsible. The proposed Plan Scheme is likely to aid
in bringing more objectivity and transparency in reporting by the
corporates.
Dissemination of data as proposed under this scheme would help
developing tools for Regulatory Impact Analysis, as suggested by the
Planning Commission (See Paragraph 13.109, Pages 75-76, Volume II,
12th Plan Document). Further, analyses of data disseminated under this
scheme would also serve as inputs for policy determination.
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iii) Problems to be addressed at local/regional/national levels, as the case
may be, through scheme/project.
The objective of the proposed plan scheme is to effect wider
dissemination of the hitherto under-utilized corporate sector data
available with the Ministry for evidence based decision making and better
corporate governance.
3.2 The alternatives that have been considered before firming up the design
of the proposal may be stated. (This should also include alternate modes of
proposal delivery, e.g. outsourcing, PPP, etc. that have been considered).
The Ministry of Corporate Affairs is the sole repository of company-level
data/ information in respect of each and every company registered under
the Companies Act, 1956 and Limited Liability Partnerships under the
Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2008. The data includes confidential as
well as shareable information; and therefore, it is felt appropriate to
operate the proposed scheme within the Ministry.
However, for developing IT tools in the context of data mining
techniques, the Ministry would enlist services of IT firms/ consultants/
outsourced personnel.
3.3 Please state whether the proposal has objectives and coverage which
overlap with projects/ schemes being implemented by the same or another
agency (Ministry/ Department/ State government). In cases of overlap,
please state why the proposal needs to be considered as a separate stand
alone effort.
No other Ministry/ Department of the Government of India has similar
objectives or mandate, nor do they have access to such company-level
information. In fact, corporate sector data available with the Ministry of
Corporate Affairs has largely remained unexploited hitherto. The
proposed scheme seeks to fill this vacuum.
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4. Proposal Objectives and targets
4.1 The objectives of the proposal may be mentioned. These objectives
should flow from the proposal justification.
The scheme (pilot) has four specific objectives:
(A) Disseminate shareable information, after cleaning of data, in
processed/ tabular forms, for use by stakeholders (public access).
(B) Sharing of privileged information, after cleaning of data, in
customised forms, for use by the Ministry and other regulatory
bodies for regulatory purposes (privileged access).
(C) Encourage public discourse on various aspects of corporate growth,
corporate governance, etc. that would enrich evidence-based
decision-making.
(D) Enhance and institutionalize Ministry's in-house capabilities for
corporate Data Mining and Information Management so as to serve
as the most authentic and updated `knowledge-hub' for Indian
corporate sector official data.
These are sought to be achieved by :
(i) Development of software/ IT tools for data cleaning, data mining
and data analysis;
(ii) Establishing and developing institutional capacity for data
cleaning, data mining and data dissemination (called Data Mining
Resource Facility); and
(iii) Encouraging research/ studies/ seminars/ workshops/ conferences
etc. on various aspects relating to growth of the corporate sector.
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4.2 The specific targets proposed to be achieved of the proposal may be
mentioned. These targets should be necessarily measurable. These should
also be monitorable, against baseline data. The baseline may be indicated.
The targets should be in tabular form as shown below.
It is proposed to implement the project on a pilot basis covering only
Listed public companies (about 7000 in number) during 2014-17 (i.e.,
remaining 3 years of the 12th Plan) as a pilot phase. It would initially
cover all Listed companies for developing company level data format.
Depending upon available resources, data cleaning & data mining may be
extended to cover all public limited companies in the pilot stage.
It may be mentioned that the present status of data quality & data sharing
has been documented in the Reports by (i) the Committee for
Formulation of Data Dissemination Policy of the Ministry of Corporate
Affairs (July, 2013) and (ii) SFIO Data Mining Project (January 2014).
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Monitorable Physical Targets for the Plan Scheme
Component Year 1 : 2014-15 Year 2 : 2015-16 Year 3 : 2016-17
(1) (2) (3) (4)
Development of (i) Finalisation of Request for (i) Consideration of Bids and (i) Fine-tune the programs,
software/ IT tools for Proposals for Hiring IT firm. award of contract. Selection of exception handling and
data cleaning, data (ii) Preparation of Bid documents and system integrator/ service standardize the routines.
mining and data analysis Issue of Tenders. providers for development of (ii) Internalize the skills into
computing facility. MCA officials working on
(ii) Develop software for data project.
cleaning. (iii) Synchronize with other
(iii) Determine parameters for corporate data sources (SEBI,
recognizing patterns through RBI, CBEC, CBDT, DGCIS
data mining and write programs. etc.)
(iv) Commence data mining on
transferred MCA21 data.
(v) Develop software for data
analysis and generation of
public access reports according
to pre-determined tabulation
plan.
Establishing and (i) Hiring of skilled human resources/ (i) Data cleaning and data (i) In-house Capacity building
developing institutional TSG (recruitment/ outsourcing). extraction, transformation and for Data Mining and Analysis to
capacity for data (ii) Training to MCA officials to loading (ETL) from MCA21 gain a shape.
cleaning, data mining access and deal with database. Databases. (ii) Release of unit level data on
and data dissemination (iii) Online Dissemination of (ii) Designing systems to companies finance statistics to
statistical (company level, non- resolve data quality issues. general public.
financial) reports to stakeholders. (iii) Initiate activities and (iii) Prepare and publish
finalize format for Company Analytical reports on
level data (Unit-level data). companies' finance.
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Monitorable Physical Targets for the Plan Scheme
Component Year 1 : 2014-15 Year 2 : 2015-16 Year 3 : 2016-17
(1) (2) (3) (4)
(iv) Disseminate Public access (iv) Developing platform for
non-finance data about Listed online collection of additional
Public Companies. corporate sector data for
providing policy inputs.
(v) Generation of need-based
sophisticated regulatory reports.
Encouraging research/ (i) Constitution of Technical (i) Sponsoring of research (i) Sponsoring of research
studies on various Committee. studies, surveys, etc. on studies, surveys, etc. on
aspects relating to (ii) Preparation and finalisation of corporate sector. corporate sector.
growth of the corporate forms etc. for empanelment of (ii) Organising Seminars on (ii) Organising Seminars on
sector Institutions for grant-in-aid for contemporary themes of contemporary themes of
research, seminars etc. relevance concerning corporate relevance concerning corporate
(iii) Sponsoring of research studies, sector. sector.
surveys, etc. on corporate sector.
Note : Activities on each component would be taken forward to the next level in each subsequent year.
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4.3 The outcomes of the proposal to be achieved should be indicated.
These outcomes should be in the form of measurable indicators which
can evaluate the proposal on quarterly/half yearly/annual/plan basis.
DEVELOPMENT OUTCOMES
At present, no institutional mechanism exists for providing
authentic and updated statistical framework on India's corporate
sector. The proposed Scheme seeks to address these issues by
resolving data quality issue and establishing and institutionalizing
Ministry's in-house capabilities for corporate Data Mining and
Information Management.
Further, Data Mining and Information Management would
inevitably and implicitly reinforce monitoring of compliance by
companies at no additional cost. Some of the expected and
monitorable Outcomes are indicated below:
(i) Resolution of data quality issues (such as incorrect activity
codes, incomplete/incorrect financial information, etc.), in respect
of all active Listed Public companies (about 7,000 in number) in
the pilot phase (2014-17).
(ii) Publication of company level information, by developing a
standardised mechanism for effective and error-free data collection,
validation and tabulation.
(iii) Establishing an authentic and updated statistical framework
on corporate sector that will eventually provide the population
frame for different large scale surveys.
(iv) Enable extraction of corporate sector data by the public,
based on a set of pre-defined parameters and multiple options, by
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improving features and functionalities of the MCA Data
Dissemination Portal.
(v) Establishing and nurturing a research ecosystem on issues
relating to corporate growth such as corporate governance, investor
protection, financial inclusion, financial reporting, etc. The
guidelines for funding research and studies, workshops and
conferences etc. under this scheme are at Annexure-I.
OUTPUT
(a) Dissemination of corporate finance statistics at defined level
of aggregation.
(b) Publication of Summary report on corporate sector
performance based upon companies finance information.
(c) Periodic release of unit level data on company finance
statistics in a complete enumeration format for listed companies.
(d) Conduct of workshops, seminars, conferences, etc. on
corporate governance, corporates' contribution to economic
growth, financial data analytics, data mining, financial inclusion,
etc. in collaboration with suitable institutions and agencies.
(e) Development of supplementary database on Indian
companies containing information not captured in MCA21 system.
(f) Strengthening and nurturing the authentic database for
empirical research and analysis on corporate sector performance.
(g) Creating a pool of trained resource persons for data mining,
data analytics, XBRL, etc.
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MONITORABILITY
An Inter-Ministerial Advisory Group is proposed to be set up to
monitor the progress in implementation of the project. The
Advisory Group will have the following composition:
Additional Secretary, MCA Chairperson
Adviser, Planning Commission Member
Joint Secretary & Financial Adviser, MCA Member
Joint Secretary (e-Governance), MCA Member
Economic Adviser, MCA Member
Representatives of DIPP and M/o Statistics &
Members
Programme Implementation
Representative of Reserve Bank of India Member
Two Non-official experts Members
Director (Statistics), MCA Member-Secretary
Monitoring: Provision for Concurrent Monitoring And Evaluation
is envisaged. Monitoring would be done on a quarterly basis by a
team headed by Director (Statistics), MCA and comprising IT
experts and domain experts. Evaluation is contemplated to be
carried out by an independent agency.
4.4 Briefly explain the objectives of the other programmes/projects
undertaken by Ministry/Dept which are in convergence with the
objectives of proposed proposal.
Not Applicable.
4.5 Please indicate whether the proposal is for current Plan only or
will continue in next Plan also.
Based upon the progress in the pilot phase (2014-17), for which
this SFC note is being moved, it is contemplated to continue the
Plan Scheme in the next Plan Period (13th Five Year Plan) to cover
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all companies' data and data from Limited Liability Partnerships
(LLPs) in future.
5. Gender Analysis of the Proposal
5.1 & 5.2 : Not Applicable.
6. Proposal design
6.1 Briefly explain the proposal Design. This should include all
components of the proposal including:
i. Scope of the project
The purpose of the Plan Scheme is to ensure wider dissemination of
corporate sector data to public in a proactive manner, after
processing and converting the raw data into user-friendly formats
that are amenable for further analysis. The present proposal is
envisaged to be implemented during 2014-17. It is proposed to
cover all Listed Public companies for developing unit level data
format during this phase. All Listed companies (about 7000 in
number) would be covered for data cleaning and data mining in the
pilot stage.
It is proposed to encourage/sponsor research/ studies/ seminars/
workshops/ conferences etc. on various aspects relating to growth
of the corporate sector.
It is contemplated to cover all companies' (about 9 lakh working
companies) data and data from LLPs in the next Five Year Plan.
ii. Assumptions used
It is assumed that the Statutory information available in MCA21
database shall be available to the Data Mining Resource Facility for
improvement and value addition by way of data cleaning,
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processing, etc. to make it amenable to further dissemination,
studies and analysis for usage by stakeholders.
iii. Technology
The proposed Data Mining Resource Facility (DMRF) is
essentially a "Data Warehousing" system. The fundamental
difference between Transactional systems (such as MCA21 system)
and Data Warehousing systems is that Transactional systems are
designed to support transaction processing whereas Data
Warehousing systems are designed to support analytical
processing. Based on this fundamental difference, data usage
patterns associated with Transactional systems are significantly
different than usage patterns associated with Data Warehousing
systems. As a result, Data Warehousing systems are designed and
optimized using methodologies that drastically differ from that of
Transactional systems.
iv. Size/ Specifications/ Layout Plan
Software systems for Extract, Transform and Load (ETL) would be
created to achieve the above objective and ensure smooth transfer
of data. The IT interventions would involve Data cleaning, data
mining and data processing, using software/ programs. It is
proposed to select a suitable IT firm for this purpose. It is proposed
to engage relevant domain-experts as a part of Technical Support
Group for institutionalization, in-house capacity building and day-
to-day technical support for the proposed Plan Scheme of
Corporate Data Management.
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v. Plant & Machinery
Computers hardware, software, servers and other peripherals would
be procured as appropriate.
vi. Others (Please specify)
The proposed scheme contemplates continuous inter-ministerial
deliberations throughout the implementation of the project through
the mechanism of the Advisory Group.
6.2 to 6.8. : Not applicable.
7. Proposal cost
7.1 Please provide the proposal cost estimate for its scheduled
duration along with a break-up of year-wise, component-wise
expenses segregated into non-recurring and recurring expenses.
The total cost of scheme is tentatively estimated to be Rs. 33.94
Crore as detailed in the table below.
Broad Expenditure Heads during Plan Period (3 Years)
(in Rs. Lakhs)
Total in
Components 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 Plan
Period
Data Mining Resource Facility (A) 100.0 914.0 914.0 1928.0
Technical Support Group (B ) 19.7 239.4 239.4 498.5
Research Studies, Publication, 25.0 200.0 200.0 425.0
Conferences, etc. (C)
Training & Capacity Building (D) 10.0 45.0 45.0 100.0
Miscellaneous (E) 23.2 210.5 209.0 442.7
Total (A+B+C+D+E) 177.9 1608.9 1607.4 3394.2
Total Expenditure during Plan Period (3 years): Rs. 33.94 Crore
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Broad Expenditure Heads during Plan Period (3 Years)
(in Rs. Lakhs)
Total
Components 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 (in Plan
Period)
Data Mining Resource Facility (A)
Non-Recurring 100.0 914.0 914.0 1928.0
Recurring 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Sub-total (A) 100.0 914.0 914.0 1928.0
Technical Support Group (B )
Non-Recurring 19.7 239.4 239.4 498.5
Recurring 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Sub-total (B) 19.7 239.4 239.4 498.5
Research Studies, Publications, Conferences, etc. (C)
Non-Recurring 25.0 200.0 200.0 425.0
Recurring 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Sub-total (C) 25.0 200.0 200.0 425.0
Training & Capacity Building (D)
Non-Recurring 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Recurring 10.0 45.0 45.0 100.0
Sub-total (D) 10.0 45.0 45.0 100.0
Miscellaneous (E)
Non-Recurring 23.2 210.5 209.0 442.7
Recurring 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Sub-total (E) 23.2 210.5 209.0 442.7
Total (A+B+C+D+E)
Non-Recurring 167.9 1563.9 1562.4 3294.2
Recurring 10.0 45.0 45.0 100.0
Grand Total 177.9 1608.9 1607.4 3394.2
Total Expenditure during Plan Period (3 years): Rs. 33.94 Crore
7.2 In case the land is to be acquired, the details of cost of land and
cost of rehabilitation/resettlement may be provided.
Not Applicable.
7.3 Estimated expenditure on proposal administration (including
expenses on consultants, monitoring, evaluation, IEC, etc.) may be
separately indicated.
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Monitoring would be a continuous process and evaluation would be
undertaken by a third-party on an independent consultancy basis at
the appropriate time. It is proposed to keep 1% of the total project
cost for this purpose (approximately Rs. 34 lakhs) tentatively for
the purpose.
7.4 The basis of these cost estimates along with the reference dates (it
should not be more than six months old) for normative costing may
be provided. Please indicate the firmness of the estimates, component
wise, with the extent (+ / -) of the expected variation.
The total cost of scheme is tentatively estimated to be Rs. 33.94
Crore, to be spent over the remaining three years of the 12 th Five
Year Plan (2014-15 to 2016-17).
The major cost components are :
(i) Creation of Information Technology tools, for data cleaning,
data mining and data processing in the Data Mining Resource
Facility;
(ii) Engaging suitable domain-experts as Technical Support
Group to institutionalize and build in-house capacity; and
(iii) Funding research studies, sponsoring seminars and workshop.
For hardware, software and human resources that may be required,
costs would vary on actual basis (at the time of acquiring). The cost
estimates for hiring an IT firm as well as skilled domain-experts in
the Technical Support Group have been worked out in the light of
past experience of working with MCA21 e-governance project and
information gathered from informed sources such as National
Informatics Centre (NIC), National Institute for Smart Governance
(NISG), etc.
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7.5-7.7.: Not Applicable.
7.8 The cost towards salary/ fees/ emoluments of the human resources
as being proposed should be indicated (procedure for seeking
approval for human resource requirements is detailed at para-9
below).
Keeping in view the present Government Policies as to the creation
of new establishment, it is proposed to engage suitable domain-
experts as a part of Technical Support Group (TSG) and
demonstrate the usefulness and potential of the Project in Pilot
Phase. Such engagement will be contractual/ outsourced basis in
accordance with the General Financial Rules. It is also proposed to
deploy officers of the Indian Statistical Service and Indian
Economic Service as well as Senior Technical Assistants/ Junior
Technical Assistants already in the sanctioned strength of the
Ministry by filling up existing vacancies in the Ministry for the
Project.
Minimal regular manpower requirements will be addressed after
evaluation of the `pilot' and based on the decision about expansion
of the project in the next plan.
7.9-7.10.: Not Applicable.
8. Proposal: Financing
8.1 The source of financing for the proposal may be indicated. In case
of proposal already included in the FYP, the specific earmarking may
be mentioned.
The scheme is proposed to be funded through Gross Budgetary
Support (GBS) for Plan of the Central Government. The amount of
GBS required would be of the following order:
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(in Rs. Lakh)
2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 Total
177.8 1613.9 1602.4 3394.2
8.2 Whether the funding requirements have been fully tied up with
Planning Commission may be indicated. The quantum of the Plan
allocation may be indicated.
This is a new plan proposal not included in the 12 th Five Year Plan.
The Plan outlay for the 12th Five Year Plan for the Ministry of
Corporate Affairs, as approved, is given below:
Sl. Name of scheme (for 2012-2017) Total (in Rs. Crore)
No.
1. Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs 110.00
2. Improving the Functioning of Official 123.58
Liquidators and Application of e-
governance
Total 233.58
The scheme "Improving the Functioning of Official Liquidators
and Application of e-governance" has since been withdrawn by the
Ministry. Planning Commission has agreed to the same. A portion
of the Plan Fund available on this account are sought to be utilized
for the proposed Plan Scheme of "Corporate Data Management"
with a project cost of Rs. 33.94 Crore. As such, the pilot does not
entail any additional overall allocation for this Ministry.
8.3-8.4 Pertaining to gap in financing the proposal and sponsoring by
external sources:
Not Applicable.
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8.5 In case of partial allocation of funds for the proposal, then the
components which may be removed/reduced may be indicated.
The scheme is proposed to be fully funded under the GBS for Plan.
8.6 Please provide the following details in respect of project
proposal:
Debt-equity ratio along with justification.
In case of, funding from internal resources (IR), availability of
IR may be supported by projections and their deployment on
various projects.
Please indicate funding tie-ups for loans components both
domestic and foreign, along-with terms and conditions of loan
based on consent/ comfort letters.
Not Applicable.
9. Proposal: Human Resources
9.1 In case posts (permanent or temporary) are intended to be
created, a separate proposal may be sent on file to Personnel Division
of Department of Expenditure. Such proposals may be sent only after
the main proposal is recommended by the appropriate appraisal
body (SFC, EFC, etc.).
Not Applicable.
9.2 In case outsourcing of services or hiring of consultants is
intended, brief details of the same may be indicated. It may also be
certified that the relevant GFR provisions will be followed while
engaging the agency/ consultant.
Yes, it is proposed to engage domain-experts as a part of Technical
Support Group (TSG) on contractual basis. The TSG would
comprise consultants and Young Professionals drawn from
Economics, Statistics, Management and Commerce backgrounds.
Further details are provided in Paragraph 11.2 below, dealing with
the administrative structure. Relevant provisions of the General
Financial Rules shall be complied with while engaging these
experts.
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9.3 In case additional manpower requirement, please indicate the
phased requirement over the proposal timeline (i.e. year-wise break-
up of the manpower requirement)
Not Applicable.
10. Proposal viability
10.1 In case of proposals which have identified stream of financial
returns, the financial internal rate of return may be calculated. The
hurdle rate is considered at 12%.
10.2 In case of proposals where financial returns are not readily
quantifiable (typically social development proposals), the measurable
benefits/ outcomes may be indicated.
10.1 10.2.
The objective of the scheme is to provide large data sets on Indian
corporates available with the Ministry to various stakeholders and
public at large. Dissemination of company level data comprising
both financial and non-financial parameters, and analysis thereof
would enable evidence based policy formulation, strengthen
decision making process, encourage high quality empirical research
on various aspects of corporate growth and corporate governance
and thereby contributing towards promoting inclusive growth.
Further, the thrust is on developing institutional capability for Data
Mining & Dissemination on corporate sector for providing
information to stakeholders on a sustained basis. Hence, the
proposed scheme has been essentially considered as an investment
to aid government and other stakeholders for facilitating corporate
growth. Therefore, no IRR (financial or economic) has been
calculated as the proposed scheme is not visualized as a
commercial venture by this Ministry.
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Based upon discussion with various experts, it is understood that
the revenue generating potential of the Project is very high. But it is
proposed to stabilize the Project in the Pilot phase without actually
realizing the revenue potential during the 12th Plan Period. The
revenue generating potential shall be dovetailed when the Project
would be considered for extension in the 13th Plan Period.
It may be appropriate to submit that the total revenue collected by
the Ministry from various stakeholders through e-filing is estimated
at around Rs. 1500 Crore annually, as Non-Tax Revenue. MCA is
thus a revenue generating Ministry. The present proposal envisages
an annual plan expenditure of less than Rs. 20 Crore that is
required to add value to the already available information so as to
ensure its optimal utilization by the public at large.
11. Proposal implementation and monitoring
11.1 Implementing agency (s) may be indicated.
The proposed scheme would be implemented by and under the
supervision and direction of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
11.2 The administrative structure for implementing the proposal may
be stated. Usually new structures/ entities, etc. Are, by and large, to
be avoided. In case new structures are intended to be created for
administering the scheme, the details of such structures and specific
justification for the same may be provided. Such new structure
should be proposed only if it is has been established after due
analysis, that existing structures cannot be levered for the
proposed/additional work.
No new structures are being proposed. Teams and facilities to
implement the project will be either manned by existing personnel
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in the Ministry or by utilising expertise engaged on contractual/
outsourced basis as explained in Paragraph 7.8.
Certain internal groups will be constituted as under :
Roles Participants Responsibility
Advisory Additional Secretary and Joint Provide Apex level guidance for the
Group Secretary level officers of actual implementation of the
Government of India and non- scheme and further improvements.
government experts
Executive Economic Adviser, Director Approve roadmap, Secure funding,
Team* (R&A), Director (Statistics), Prioritize Projects on macro-
Director (e-Governance), and economic policy, policies and
Deputy Director (Statistics). regulation, Overall Governance,
and techno-legal framework.
Cross Essentially regular manpower for Cross organizational group,
Functional in-house and sustainable capacity Evangelize Analytics, Coordinate
Team development for data mining and super users and depts., Define best
dissemination so as to establish practices, Define and document
MCA as corporate sector metrics, Gather Requirements, and
`knowledge-hub'. management skills, Exploring the
data and discovering patterns,
meaningful relationships, anomalies
and trends, Capacity Building for
MCA data management
Domain Technical Support Group [Experts Responsible for One-time
Team (s) from Statistical/ Economic/ correction & subsequent
Commerce background with improvements in quality of
sufficient Information Technology information filed in MCA21
exposure]. System. They will also assist with
Data Analysis for Increasing
compliance of companies and
improving data quality on annual
statutory filings to MCA.
Technical The Technical Team (IT Firm) will The Technical Team (IT Firm) will
Team (IT engage Data Management Team as Build and maintain EDW, Build
Firm) well as Interface Developers for semantic layer for BI tool, Create
Data Mining Resource Facility. complex reports and dashboards,
Data governance, architecture,
Develop model management
platform, coordinate databases and
servers w/ IT, Data mining related
activities, Data dissemination
related activities.
* Already in the sanctioned strength of the Ministry.
24
11.3 The completion schedule of the proposal indicating timelines of activities should be provided in PERT/Bar
Chart along with critical milestones.
INDICATIVE PERT CHART WITH EXPECTED TIME (IN MONTHS)
I
2 4
6 L
6
12 G M 6
6 15 2 N
C F K 0 2
5 10 1
H 4 4 R 2 T
B 16 6
1 0 2 S
J
D
A 1 [18]
[15]
P 5
10
O 15 Q
[*] indicates continuous process, and not definite time-limits.
25
NOTES FOR THE INDICATIVE PERT CHART
Node Activity
A. Approval of the SFC Memorandum.
B. Constitution of Advisory Group.
C. Engaging a Consultant for assisting Statistics Division in selection of
IT Firm and Agency for providing Domain Experts for Technical
Support Group as per provisions under GFR.
D. Constitution of Technical Committee for Research Studies, etc.
F. Finalisation of Request for Proposals for hiring Agencies for (i)
development of computing facility and (ii) providing skilled human
resources for the Data Mining Resource Facility, Preparation of Bid
documents, Selection of Agencies and award of contract, etc.
G. Develop software for data cleaning, Designing systems to resolve data
quality issues, Data cleaning and data extraction, transformation and
loading (ETL) from MCA21 Databases, Develop software for data
analysis, Initiate activities and finalize format for Company level data
(Unit-level data).
H. Determine parameters for recognizing patterns through data mining
and write programs, Commence data mining on transferred MCA21
data, Stabilizing the Data Mining Methodologies.
I. Synchronize with other corporate data sources (SEBI, RBI, CBEC,
CBDT, etc.)
J. Developing platform for online collection of additional corporate
sector data for providing policy inputs.
K. Generation of public access reports according to pre-determined
tabulation plan. Disseminate Public access non-finance data about
Public Limited Companies. Online Dissemination of user-defined
reports to stakeholders.
L. Release of unit level data on companies finance statistics to general
public.
M. Generation of need-based sophisticated regulatory reports.
N. Conceptualization for designing the Intelligence Grid for regulation
and enforcement, consultation with other regulators for data usage
rights & authorization, etc.
O. Preparation and finalisation of forms etc. for empanelment of
Institutions for grant-in-aid for research, seminars etc.
P. Sponsoring of research studies, surveys, workshops, conferences,
seminars, etc. on corporate sector.
Q. Organising Seminars on contemporary themes of relevance
concerning corporate sector.
R. Preparation and Publication of analytical reports on companies'
finance.
S. Training to MCA officials to access and deal with database.
T. In-house Capacity building for Data Mining and Analysis to gain a
shape.
26
11.4 Mode of implementation: Departmental/ Contract/ Turnkey
contract/ EPC/ PPP, etc. with justification may be given.
It is a Departmental Pilot Project. However, as the Department is
currently not having required technical know-how and internal
skilled resources, it is proposed that the Project will draw on expert
manpower on outsourced services basis.
11.5 Nodal officer identified / appointed for being directly in charge
and overseeing progress of the proposal may be indicated. Details
about his status, past experience in executing similar proposals and
balance tenure left for steering the proposal may also be mentioned.
He/ She should normally be appointed for entire duration of the
proposal.
Director (Statistics), Ministry of Corporate Affairs will be the
Nodal officer. The Director (Statistics) is a Non-Functional
Selection Grade officer of Indian Statistical Service and the present
incumbent has more than two decades left for his superannuation
from government service. Since he is occupying a cadre post, his
continuity at this level in the Ministry can be assured.
Director (R&A Division), Ministry of Corporate Affairs will be
responsible for the component of funding sponsored Research
Studies etc.
Both the Directors would be working under the supervision of the
Economic Adviser of the Ministry and they would be supported by
a team of officers from Indian Statistical Service and Indian
Economic Service.
11.6 The monitoring framework preferably on MIS for the proposal
may be indicated. The arrangements for audit/social audit of the
proposal may also be stated.
27
The Inter-Ministerial Advisory Group, proposed to be set up under
chairmanship of Additional Secretary, and having representation from
various Ministries, shall provide apex level guidance and monitoring for
efficient implementation of the Project. An Executive Team is responsible
for monitoring on a continuous basis with technical & domain related
support from the Technical Support Group.
12. Proposal sensitivities/uncertainties
12.1 Any foreseeable constraints/ uncertainties which can affect the
technical design, costing and implementation of the proposal may be
indicated.
12.2 The likely impact of these constraints/uncertainties on the
proposal parameters may be stated. In particular, the sensitivity of
the proposal cost, proposal schedule and proposal viability towards
the possible constraints/ uncertainties may be mentioned.
12.1-12.2 No constraint is foreseen at this stage.
13. Mandatory approvals / clearances:
The details regarding the requirement of mandatory approvals /
clearances of various local, state and national bodies and their
availability may be indicated in a tabular form :
S. No. Approvals / Agency concerned Availability (Y/N)
Clearances
The proposal does not require any other clearance from other
Central, State or Local bodies.
14. Consultations with the Public, State Governments, External
Research Agencies, Think Tanks, etc.
14.1 To the extent possible and practicable, such consultations may
be done by the Administrative Ministries. The draft Proposals may
28
be placed on the web site of the sponsoring Ministries and comments
invited from the general public. The draft proposals may be
formulated / finalized taking into account such comments. Details in
this regard may be indicated in the EFC /PIB memo.
This SFC Memorandum was circulated to Planning Commission,
Department of Expenditure, M/o Statistics & Programme
Implementation, DIPP and the Reserve Bank of India.
The comments received from these organisations have been
suitably incorporated in the proposal. However, comments received
and brief response thereto are given in Annexure II.
[To be incorporated as and when comments are received after
circulation.]
15. Concurrence of Financial Advisor
15.1 Comments/Concurrence of Financial Adviser may be indicated
along with reply of the Administrative Ministry.
The comments/ Concurrence of Financial Adviser is given in
AnnexureIII.
[To be incorporated as and when comments are received.]
16. Approvals:
16.1 Please indicate the specific points on which approval of EFC /
PIB is sought.
Approval of the Standing Finance Committee (SFC) is solicited on
the following proposals of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs:
I. To implement a Central Plan Scheme of Corporate Data
Management during 2014-17 with a project cost of Rupees 33.94
Crore as detailed in para 4.2 (at Pages 8-10 of this Memorandum);
29
II. To allocate Gross Budgetary Support of Rupees 33.94 Crore
for the purpose during the three year period 2014-15 to 2016-17, as
specified in Tables under Paragraph 7.1 (at Pages 16-17 of this
Memorandum);
III. To constitute an Inter-Ministerial Advisory Group having
members from Planning Commission, Ministry of Statistics &
Programme Implementation, DIPP and RBI, and non-official
experts to
a. Finalize the RFP for selection of service provider and to
select the service provider;
b. Approve the process of recruitment of Technical
Support Group;
c. Review the project implementation and improve it for
achieving the objective as well as optimal utilization of
resources;
d. Review fund utilization across various activities, and
reallocate, if required; and
IV. To commence the execution of the component for funding
research and studies as per guidelines as Annexure-I.
(Smt. Sibani Swain)
Economic Adviser
Tel. No.: 011-23385010 (Telefax)
E-mail: sibani@nic.in
30
ANNEXURE-I
GUIDELINES FOR FUNDING RESEARCH AND STUDIES,
WORKSHOPS AND CONFERENCES ETC. UNDER THE PLAN
SCHEME "CORPORATE DATA MANAGEMENT" OF THE
MINISTRY OF CORPORATE AFFAIRS
I. INTRODUCTION
1.1. "Funding Research and Studies, Workshops and Conferences etc." is
conceived as a component part of a Central Sector Plan Scheme, titled
"Corporate Data Management" proposed to be implemented by the Ministry of
Corporate Affairs. The major focus is to utilise the wealth of data available with
the Ministry of Corporate Affairs by way of sponsoring Research, Studies and
Surveys etc. in areas related, inter alia, to corporate growth in overall macro-
economic perspective.
1.2. This would also include funding of Seminars, Workshops, Conferences,
Symposia and Publications (Reports, Books and Monographs) which extract
knowledge primarily from the MCA database and other sources, having
implications for corporate governance and faster, sustainable and inclusive
growth.
1.3. This is to be implemented by the Research and Analysis Division of the
Ministry, under the supervision of a "Technical Committee" constituted under
Paragraph 3.1 below.
1.4. The procedure for approving grant-in-aid, monetary ceilings, advances,
instalments etc. would be as prescribed in the following paragraphs. Aspects
not directly covered in these guidelines will be regulated by the provisions of
the General Financial Rules of the Government of India.
II. OBJECTIVES
2.1. The primary objective of "Funding Research and Studies, Workshops
and Conferences etc." is to better utilise the repository of corporate sector data
available with the Ministry under the MCA21 e-governance system, with a
view to extract knowledge from data that will eventually inform policy and
facilitate decision making in a market driven economy. The following
illustrative list of themes for research, studies, conferences etc. has been
identified :
(i) Financial Inclusion and shareholders democracy;
(ii) Corporate Bond Markets;
(iii) Investor Protection and Investor Education;
(iv) Performance of corporates (contribution to GDP, investment,
revenue, profitability etc.);
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(v) Corporate governance;
(vi) Corporate social responsibility;
(vii) Competition law and practice;
(viii) Consumer protection vis-à-vis corporate functioning;
(ix) Transparency in corporate functioning;
(x) Ease of Doing Business; and
(xi) Social Audit of corporate sector functioning.
2.2. Research, Studies and surveys, Publication (Reports, Books and
Monographs) of results of Research Studies, and Dissemination of knowledge
(Seminars, Workshops, Conferences and Symposia at the National level or
international level) acquired/ built through results of Research Studies, whether
undertaken through funding under these guidelines or otherwise, on the above
subjects, fulfilling the objectives will be considered for grant-in-aid, under
these guidelines.
2.3. The purpose of Seminar etc. should be to:
(a) stimulate an informed discussion or debate on research themes/topics,
essential to corporate sector growth, enlightened regulation and
positioning of corporates as responsible citizens, and
(b) identification of problems and identification of remedial measures to
pre-existing problems that would help corporate sector growth and/or re-
orient practices of the Government/ corporate sector,
with active participation of, and partnership with the institutes of repute, as well
as renowned names in the relevant field.
2.4. The proposals for conducting Research, Studies, Surveys, Publication
(Reports, Books and Monographs), holding of Seminars, Workshops,
Conferences and Symposia etc. are referred to as `proposals' hereinafter in
these guidelines.
III. APPROVAL PROCESS
3.1. All proposals (whether proposed by the Ministry itself or received from
the Applicants) would be placed for consideration of grant-in-aid before the
Technical Committee, consisting of:
Economic Adviser, MCA Chairperson
Director (IFD), MCA Member
Director (Statistics), MCA Member
Two Non-official Experts to be nominated by the
Members
Inter-Ministerial Advisory Group
Director (R&A), MCA Member-Secretary
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3.2. The functions and powers of the Technical Committee will be :
(i) The Technical Committee may add to, delete from, or otherwise amend,
the above list of issues/ themes/ topics in Paragraph 2.1;
(ii) The Technical Committee may accept/reject any proposal fully or partly
and to require modification of any component including the scope,
coverage, methodology, timelines, deliverables, or time or venue, as the
case may be, while finally recommending the disbursal of a grant in
respect of any proposal;
(iii) Formats of applications/ project proposals seeking funding/ grant-in-aid,
under these guidelines will be finalised with the approval of the
Technical Committee. These would be placed on the website of the
Ministry for general information;
(iv) The Technical Committee may recommend the assignment of specific
projects of interest to the Ministry to a Partner Organization, by issuing
"Terms of Reference". "Partner Organization" means the organisations
functioning under the aegis of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, i.e., the
Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, Institute of Company
Secretaries of India, Institute of Cost Accountants of India and the
Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs;
(v) The Technical Committee may invite tenders regarding specific projects
of interest to the Ministry by issuing "Request for Proposals";
(vi) The Technical Committee may call for progress report on the study/
research undertaken, at periodic intervals, starting from the date of
approval/ sanction of the project;
(vii) The Technical Committee may take expert opinion as to assess or review
an on-going research/study; and
(viii) The Technical Committee may, in its discretion, call off the processing
of a project, whether before or after the approval of a grant, if it appears
to the Technical Committee that the project is not worth pursuing at
Government cost.
3.3. After the Technical Committee takes a decision whether to fund, part-
fund, reject a proposal or withdraw/cancel a grant already sanctioned, the
minutes of the meeting of the Technical Committee containing its
recommendations will be submitted to the Secretary, MCA for his approval.
The approval, if and when received, will be executed by issue of orders of
sanction and release of funds or by orders of cancellation, as the case may be, in
accordance with the General Financial Rules, 2005.
33
IV. ELIGIBILITY
4.1. Institutions/Organisations i.e., those Societies, Trusts and Non-Profit
Companies which fulfil the following Expertise and Standing specifications
will be eligible to apply for funding/ grant-in-aid under these guidelines:
(A) Specifications of Standing:
(i) The Applicant (Institution/Organisation) must have valid
registration as society, trust, non-profit company etc. for at least
three years;
(ii) The Applicant (Institution/Organisation) must have been working
in research/ survey projects in the past for at least three years
preceding; and
(iii) Educational qualifications and research capabilities of the full-
time professionals and technical human resource should
commensurately reflect domain knowledge.
(B) Expertise, wherewithal and level of commitment: The Institution must
(i) possess expertise in designing research and statistical analysis for
economic interpretation;
(ii) be equipped with hardware and tools for handling large-scale
data; and
(iii) be able to dedicate experts/ professionals during the term of the
research/survey project as their main activity (not merely as a
subsidiary activity), so as to ensure adequate levels of
commitment and timeliness in delivery of the results.
4.2. Individuals with proven levels of commitment and expertise will also be
eligible for applying for funding/ grant-in-aid for research, studies, surveys and
publications, under these guidelines.
4.3. No organisation which has commercial interest in the proposal shall be
considered for grants under these guidelines. No project which is funded, fully
or partly by any international organisation or a multi-national company or a
multi-national trust, shall be considered for funding under these guidelines.
4.4 Breach of any condition contained in the sanction letter, or suppression
of any material fact concerning the eligibility/ ineligibility of an applicant
would render the defaulting party liable for being black-listed or debarred from
receiving any grant under these guidelines for a period specified by the
Technical Committee.
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V. FORM OF ASSISTANCE AND DISBURSAL
5.1. The grant-in-aid in respect of a proposal to an Institution will not exceed
15,00,000/- (Rupees fifteen lakh only), and the corresponding ceiling in
respect of an individual will be 5,00,000/- (Rupees five lakh only). In case a
project proposal is proposed to be part-funded by other organisation(s) also, the
details thereof shall be submitted as early as possible, and in no case later than
two weeks after the funding from the other organisation(s) is/are confirmed.
5.2. The Schedule of disbursal of grant would generally be as follows:
Research Proposals
Instalment Amount Conditions
First 40% On issue of sanction letter.
Second 40% On submission of first draft. A presentation will be
arranged in MCA to discuss draft Report/ findings.
Final 20% Upon acceptance of the report and submission of
requisite number of hard and soft copies of complete
set of all documents used and report.
Proposals for Seminars, Conferences etc.
Instalment Amount Conditions
First 60% On issue of sanction letter.
Final 40% On submission of the Report of the proceedings of
the conference etc. with a complete set of all
documents used and the final conclusions/
recommendations.
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