Government exempts IT, ITeS, BPO sectors from regulatory hurdles to boost innovation and Aatmanirbhar Bharat vision

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) of the Government of India has rolled out a new reform that will exempt Other Service Providers (OSPs) like IT, ITeS, and BPO sectors from regulatory hurdles, including compulsory registration, bank guarantees, static IPs, frequent reporting, and more.

A circular issued by the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology noted that the new guidelines will improve the 'Ease of Doing Business' and "reduce the compliance burden" in these industries. It is also expected to boost 'Work from Home' and 'Work from Anywhere' for the aforementioned sectors.

It is worth noting that OSPs also include industries like tele-banking, tele-trading, telemedicine, tele-education, remote financial services, billing services, and network centres among others, but the new reform concerns the IT /ITeS /BPO sectors only.

Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad announced the new reform in a tweet.

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According to the statement issued by the Ministry,

"It is clarified that the registration requirement for OSPs has been done away with altogether and the BPO industry engaged in data-related work have been taken out of the ambit of OSP regulations. In addition, requirements such as deposit of bank guarantees, requirement for static IPs, frequent reporting obligations, publication of network diagram, penal provisions etc. have also been removed."

"Several other requirements, which prevented companies from adopting ‘Work from Home’ and ‘Work from Anywhere’ policies have also been removed. Additional dispensations to enhance flexibility for the industry have been allowed," it added.

The government believes that this new liberalised regime will also go on to make India "one of the most competitive IT jurisdictions in the world" and reduce the "bureaucratic restrictions" in the path of innovation.

The Ministry also said,

"The new guidelines are inspired by Prime Minister Modi’s strong emphasis on Minimum Government, Maximum Governance... With this reform, the Government of India sends out a strong signal of its support to the IT industry with a view to encouraging increased investment in the sector."

"The reform will certainly unleash the potential of our talented youth by making India a preferred destination for the Information and Knowledge Outsourcing Industry, and would further the vision of Aatmanirbhar Bharat."