Hon’ble Home Minister of India, Shri. Amit Shah, recently launched the portal where all security agencies will be able to apply for new as well as renew their operational license to run their businesses, required by them under the Private Security Agencies Regulation Act 2005, thus fulfilling a long standing demand of the industry.
Also gracing the occasion were Hon’ble Minister of State for Home Affairs Shri. G Kishan Reddy, the Home Secretary, Shri. Ajay Bhalla and the Additional Secretary Home, Police Modernisation Sh. Vivek Bharadwaj. There were also the State PSARA Controlling Authorities & Security Industry Leaders from across India.
The New Licensing portal is the most fundamental change since the enactment of the PSAR Act in 2005. This portal makes license application and renewal process completely paperless with no need for visits by the security agency directors and owners for submissions/ follow ups of their application for grant/renewal of their PSARA license to the offices of the Controlling Authorities. From now on any security company can apply for a license in any State of India online, thereby marking another significant step in the Digital India mission of the Modi Government. Now the agencies will be able to deposit license related fees also online through the payment gateway. Most importantly, the mandatory requirement of police verification of the directors/owners of the agencies has been simplified with the linkage of this new portal with the Federal Government’s Crime and Criminal Tracking Network & Systems (CCTNS) platform.
This effectively means that the police will not have to physically visit the home and offices of the Director of security agencies to verify their credentials. Now they will simply check for the existence of any criminal records in the CCTNS database, and certify a person as clean if no record is found in this national database. This will also cut down time as well as the inconvenience caused to the applicant when the police from different states come visiting their premises.
The portal will go live shortly, and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHS) has requested the agencies to review the functionality of this website and make suggestions for further improvement. They will then review it the end of 90 days and upgrade the site. On this occasion, MHA also unveiled an extensive newspaper advertisement campaign to create awareness amongst end users of private security agencies regarding risks which they face if they will be using unlicensed agencies and unverified personnel.
Overall, the industry leaders thought this was a red letter day for the private security industry as for the first time in many years, something really significant has been done by the government in making the ‘ease of doing business’, for the Rs. 70,000 crore turnover private security industry with this initiative being led by none other than Sh. Amit Shah himself.
Speaking on behalf of the Private Security Industry of India, Mr. Rituraj Sinha, the Managing Director of SIS Enterprises and Chair of the FICCI’s Private Security Industry committee said that the private security sector employs approximately 9 million personnel and contributes Rs. 10,000 Crores annually to the government coffers by way of GST and other taxes and levies. He thanked the government for this positive step and said that in times to come the PSI will play a significant role in securing the nation by helping the police.
Addressing the gathering, Mr Shah praised the private security sector as one with huge potential and stressed the need to increase “trustworthiness of the sector by increasing the number of agencies with licences”.
“The private security agency sector is of vital importance for the safe and secure business environment and achieve Prime Minister’s vision of $5 trillion economy by providing employment as well as guarding vital corporations and financial hubs in the country.”
Noting that the online portal would be useful in ensuring transparency in licensing in the sector and would give a boost to its credibility, Mr Shah said, “With the online availability of credentials, it would become easier for an agency registered in one state to expand its operations in another state.”
He said the portal will be available in all official Indian languages in the next 90 days and said that such facilitation would give a pan-India profile to the online licensing process. Mr Shah observed that as majority of police stations across the country are connected online, the online police verification of security guards would become very easy by accessing the criminal records online from across the country.
He appealed to the private security industry to join the government and start awareness campaigns to make people aware in encouraging only licence holder agencies in the sector.
Mr Shah also said that retired paramilitary and military personnel represent the untapped potential of the sector and agencies should try to recruit people who have undergone at least National Cadet Corps (NCC) training. “This would ensure basic discipline among the employees. This assumes importance because private security personnel are the first line of responders against criminals in the society.”
