The Indian government has launched the Broadcast Seva Portal, designed as a single-point solution for filing and processing applications from broadcasters for various kinds of licenses, permissions and registrations.

The portal would reduce the turnaround time of applications and at the same time help broadcasters track the progress of their applications, the Information and Broadcasting Minister, Anurag Thakur, said.

Speaking at the launch of the portal in New Delhi on 4 April, he said the government had harnessed technology to bring transparency to the system and make it more accountable.

It would reduce the human interface that was required before and would be a major step towards ease of doing business, he said. “Seva” means “service” in Hindi.

Mr Thakur said the portal would boost the business environment and empower the entire broadcast sector by directly benefiting more than 900 satellite TV channels, 70 teleport operators, 1700 multi-service operators, 350 community radio stations, 380 private FM channels and others.

He said the portal would soon be linked to the National Single Window System, a one-stop digital platform that allows investors to apply for various approvals and licences from more than 30 government ministries.