Fighting COVID-19 - Social Distancing

The COVID-19 pandemic has spread in an unprecedented way across the entire planet, and it is showing no significant signs of slowing down or getting contained. The global economy has suffered greatly due to the lockdowns and disruptions in the supply chain, but it is slowly beginning to recover. As businesses reopen, and the world begins to regain functionality, social distancing rules are a must for everyone to ensure that the pandemic stays under control.

Why Social Distancing?

Social distancing rules ensure that the COVID-19 virus does not get a chance to spread from potential carriers to healthy people. Most businesses require daily contact between employees, vendors, customers and other stakeholders. Ignoring social distancing can mean a complete breakdown of the recovery process, and an increase in the outbreak of COVID-19. With the blanket ban on any such contact, businesses must function through digital means of communication, collaboration and management.

Consequences of Social Distancing

Enforcing social distancing guidelines in a business has several consequences, as the limited space and resources of a business cannot deal with the requirements to function normally. Simply speaking – no business can afford to go on normally with all employees maintaining a 6-ft gap at all times!

This means that certain consequences will be felt, such as –

1. Disruption of Supply Chain: Businesses will have to deal with very unstable supply chains, and find alternative methods of procurement to ensure continued production. Social distancing means that all logistics transport and related labour personnel cannot interact with each other normally and hence function like they used to.
2. Remote workforce: The majority of staff in companies will have to get used to working from home on rotation basis, as social distancing will not allow for the normal volume of employees to function inside the limited office/shop area. All the personnel whose physical presence is not essential will need to provide their services from home, and companies will have to facilitate the same efficiently.
3. Reduced physical interaction: The physical interactions that are common in business, such as employee-employee or employee-customer or employee-vendor interaction, will all need to cease as much as possible. All these interactions must hence be turned digital to the extend possible.

Businesses have found a common solution to deal with social distancing requirements and quarantine conditions – cloud ERP software. By automating their business processes and eliminating unnecessary human dependence, cloud ERP software is helping businesses stay alive without the need for regular human-to-human contact.

The Answer - Cloud ERP Software

Cloud ERP Software will be the ultimate solution to help businesses facilitate social distancing, and help them through lockdown or quarantine conditions. Since social distancing is going to become a long-term requirement (even after the lockdown is lifted), businesses must search for cloud ERP software that can provide matching long-term solutions.

Cloud ERP Software can help a business in various ways when it comes to social distancing and fighting the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic –

Limiting Physical Contact through Digitalization of Business Process

Physical contact must be avoided at all cost, and this includes more than just the obvious human-to-human contact by touch or proximity. The COVID-19 virus is extremely contagious, and can spread through indirect contact via surfaces, paper, cloth, tools, etc. With cloud ERP software, you can avoid all paperwork and physical contact by digitizing your data and transferring everything to a cloud storage facility.

Automated Business Processes

By implementing cloud ERP software, business processes can be automated and streamlined, eliminating the need for unnecessary, tedious and repetitive manual labour. Automating fixed everyday tasks and processes can also provide the additional benefit of eliminating human-error, something that is commonly seen when menial tasks are concerned. With modules such as procurement to pay, inventory management and compliance management, a lot of such menial everyday tasks become the ERP software’s headache instead of your employees’.

Facilitating Work-From-Home

With cloud ERP modules such as project management, finance and accounting, sales and CRM, a large part of any company’s workforce can function remotely. Such ERP software will allow the employees to function efficiently and stay productive despite work-from-home situations, since all the data is integrated in one platform, and there is seamless communication and collaboration.

TYASuite Cloud ERP Solution

Choosing to implement cloud ERP software is not always simple, especially for SMBs and Start-ups. There are many factors to consider, and making the wrong choice can leave you with an ERP that is ill-suited to your business, not worth the investment and a waste of your precious time and money.

This is why TYASuite Cloud ERP Solutions provides you with the best possible choice. Specially designed to fit the needs of any business, irrespective of size and nature, the TYASuite Cloud ERP is –

Affordable

With customized pricing plans and a pay-as-you-grow approach, you decide how much you want to spend, and how much you want in return. The TYASuite Cloud ERP software is customizable to your specific needs to ensure maximum ROI and minimum implementation costs.

Scalable

Regardless of your business size, the TYASuite Cloud ERP software is a one-size-fits-all solution. With customized plans for different scales of business, you can start wherever you like, and scale up or down based on your evaluation of the software’s performance and efficacy with regard to your business processes and specific requirements.

Flexible

Unlike traditional or big-brand ERPs that have on-premise software, the TYASuite Cloud ERP is flexible to adapt and suit your business’ existing processes and functions. With integrated modules for each functionality, you choose what you need, and fit the pieces accordingly.

Plug and Play ERP

TYASuite Cloud ERP is the world’s 1^st Plug and Play ERP Solutions. It has 2000+ pre-customized features which can be modified to suit your requirement in the click of a button. Join the plug-and-play ERP movement and enjoy the benefit of going live within 7 days with your own process. Never compromise with your requirements.

With our full deck of ERP tools, get access to Procurement to Pay, Project Management, Inventory Management, Asset Management, Vendor Management, Finance and Cloud Accounting modules to make sure you stay on top of the coming economic revolution. Never miss out on important news, manage your business seamlessly and enhance your profitability by going digital with TYASuite.

Sign up today for a FREE DEMO, and get 3 months usage of our Cloud ERP for no cost!

Are you stuck with inflexibility and heavy cost of your existing ERP software? Talk to TYASuite Experts on how to get Flexible, Affordable and Plug and Play Cloud ERP.

Is your company considering the implementation of an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software to help you go digital and automate your business processes. You might be facing some common problems of ERP implementation -

1. Will it streamline my operations after months/quarters of implementation time?
2. Will the cost justify the benefits?
3. Do I need to change my process just to adapt to the inflexible ERP?
4. Can my existing team handle the transitional work load?

ERPs can be very complicated systems, fraught with technical difficulties, implementation errors and on-going bugs and maintenance issues.

The most important question that bothers companies is – which ERP shall they choose? There are big names in the ERP market, and some of the biggest are SAP, Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Oracle EVS / Netsuite. With a long history of existence in ERP Market and numerous clients, they certainly seem like good options at first, but are you sure they’ll be the right choice for you? If you are large enterprise and very profitable company, then yes, these Industry stalwarts can be a suitable choice for you.

However, if you are a Small or Medium enterprise, or a start-up who need to scale and bring profitability in your business, you will need to look for alternatives to SAP/Oracle/Netsuite etc.

Considering the advancement in technologies over last few years, you must evaluate some factors before finalizing any ERP :

1. Cost

There are 4 types of costs involved in any ERP :

1. One-time onboarding cost
2. One-time Implementation cost
3. Annual Fixed License fee
4. Per user charges

You must evaluate the overall ERP cost for at least next 5 year and then compare available options in the market. Many ERP companies run special ERP offers for MSMEs and Startup’s to ensure that they can afford the ERP.

2. Process Adoptability

One must understand the ERP functionality in detail and ensure that your company process can be streamlined with ERP Implementation. Many ERP projects fail as the companies select ERPs based on hearsay and when they start implementation, they realize their company process is very different and the selected ERP either may not suit their purpose or significant customization costs need to be incurred to make it usable. It becomes a bottleneck and delays the entire process.

3. ERP Modules

All ERPs will have multiple modules which are inter-linked. One must check the functionality of each module to ensure that it fits into the requirements. A few of the most common modules are mentioned below and must be integrated seamlessly into each other :

1. Procurement to Payment Software
2. Inventory Management Software
3. Asset Management Software
4. Revenue Process Software
5. Finance Module
6. Project Management Tool

Companies must go through details functionalities of all modules and ensure that it fits into your company process without major customization.

4. Inflexibility

As mentioned before, ERPs can be extremely complicated things. There are entire divisions in the IT consulting industry dedicated to providing ERP consultation services, and that will be more to add to your staff list. For example, SAP consultants exist solely to help companies use the SAP ERP software, and they are specially trained to use it like experts. Without that extra ERP consulting staff, buying SAP would be like getting a complicated Lego set for your toddler – you’ll spend a lot of money but they won’t be able to utilize it to its actual potential.

It is the time to rethink, do you really need inflexible ERP while there are many Flexible ERP is in the market. It is the era of Plug and Play ERP. Why would you choose ERPs which take months to go live and then after going live struggle for months to streamline the business processes? Always choose the ERP which can go live faster.

If one follows the above steps, they will be able to streamlines process in their company much faster and at affordable cost.

Choose TYASuite Cloud ERP!

If you’re worried by what you read above, don’t be! ERP doesn’t need to be complicated, costly or restricted to large-scale businesses only. There is an affordable, scalable and flexible ERP choice for your problems – the TYASuite Cloud ERP Solution.

The TYASuite Cloud ERP Solution is a fully-stacked software suite with integrated modules to automate, streamline and digitalize all of your business processing. Eliminate all the hassle, error and loss incurred due to tedious manual processing of repetitive menial tasks and transform your business and go digital with our cloud-based plug-and-play ERP solution. The TYASuite cloud ERP contains separate modules for Procurement to Pay Software, Project Management Software, Compliance Management Software, Vendor Management Software, Inventory Management Software and a host of other back-office business processes – all integrated into one simple, plug and play ERP.

Key Benefits of TYASuite Cloud ERP :

Affordable

If you’re on a limited budget, TYASuite Cloud ERP Solution is the most obvious choice! It provides the most affordable option while ensuring that no compromises are made with quality, functionality and scope of the product.

Scalable as you grow

Unlike big brands like SAP, Oracle Netsuite or Microsoft Dynamics 365 which are designed for large-scale companies with immense operation volume only, the TYASuite Cloud ERP solution is scalable to your business size. If you are a small or medium business, our product will be a perfect fit to help you automate your business within its own scale and scope. If you are a large business, our product will scale itself to match your operations just as easily. If your business is planning to undergo rapid expansion, our product will scale with you as your business grows, and you won’t need any change of ERP for your future.

Flexible

If you’re not sure whether you need all the features of a full stacked ERP suite, no problem! TYASuite Cloud ERP Solution is flexible and can adapt to your specific needs. With an SaaS model, you can subscribe to our products for as long as you need them, and for whichever modules you want to. Our product has complete integration through all modules, and can take care of all your ERP needs through a single, easy-to-use plug-and-play platform, with no need for costly hardware or consultants. Simply sign up for our services and go live within 7 days get constant support, due maintenance and regular updates at no extra cost.

Plug and Play ERP

TYASuite Cloud ERP is World 1^st Plug and Play ERP Solutions. It has 2000+ pre-customized features which can be modified to suit your requirement in click of a button. Join Plug and Play ERP movement and enjoy the benefit of going live within 7 days with your own process. Never compromise in your requirements.

Prime Minister Sri Narendra Modi emphasized the importance of a ‘Self Reliant India’ in fighting the COVID-19 crisis during his speech on May 12^th, 2020.

The Core focus of his speech was “Go Local”, “Be Vocal” and “Make it Global”. He announced a recovery package of Rs. 20 lakh core which approximates 10% of India’s GDP. The package is targeted to cater to various sections including cottage industry, MSMEs, laborers, farmers & middle class.

His vision for a Self-Reliant India will stand on the following five pillars:

1. Economy - Which brings quantum jumps and not incremental jumps
2. Infrastructure -Which should become the identity of India
3. System - Which are based on 21^st century technology
4. Vibrant Demography - Which is our source of energy for a Self Reliant India
5. Demand - Whereby our demand and supply chain should be utilized to full capacity

Let’s look at how you can benefit from the Rs. 20 lakh Crore package:

1. Financial aid for the MSME sector:

The MSME Sector has been selected to receive the lion’s share of help, and rightly so as they need it the most, and we need them the most. Separate classifications for manufacturing and service sector are to be removed, and composite criteria for their definitions were identified as follows –

1. Micro – Investment <1 Cr & Turnover <5 Cr
2. Small – Investment <10 Cr & Turnover <50 Cr
3. Medium – Investment <20 Cr & Turnover <100 Cr

With these new definitions for MSMEs, there will hopefully be more registrations and a reduced fear among businesses to not qualify within the criteria. MSMEs are going to be the direct benefactors of financing and liquidity provisions, offered in the form of –

Subordinate Debt for Stressed MSMEs – Rs. 20,000 Crores

Stressed MSMEs in need of equity support will receive a net amount of Rs. 20,000 cr as subordinate debt from the Govt. Any functioning MSMEs that are NPA or are stressed will be eligible, and an estimated 2 lakh businesses are expected to benefit. The Govt. will also release a support of Rs. 4000 Cr to CGTMSE, to be provided to banks as partial Credit Guarantee support. The banks will give debts to promoters of MSME, to infuse as equity in the units.

Collateral-Free Automatic Loans for Businesses including MSMEs – Rs. 3,00,000 Crores

There has been a massive shutdown of MSMEs and businesses unable to meet their operational liabilities or raw material costs. Banks and NBFCs are to now provide an Emergency Credit Line to Businesses/MSMEs of up to 20% of the entire outstanding credit as on 29.02.2020. This scheme is to remain available till 31.10.2020, and carry no guarantee fee or fresh collateral. The Government hopes that this scheme will allow approximately 45 lakh units to resume business activity and safeguard jobs. The details of the loan terms are -

1. Borrowers with upto Rs. 25 Cr outstanding and Rs. 100 Cr turnover will be eligible
2. Loans will have a 4 year tenor with a moratorium of 12 months on Principal repayment
3. The interest is to be capped
4. 100% credit guarantee cover will be given to Banks and NBFCs on principal and interest

Equity Infusion for MSMEs through Fund of Funds – Rs. 50,000 Crores

To address the severe shortage of equity faced by MSMEs, a Fund of Funds with a Corpus of Rs. 10,000 Cr will be set up. The FOF will be operated through a Mother Fund and a few daughter funds, helping to leverage Rs. 50,000 Cr at the daughter fund level. This funding will be for MSMEs with growth potential and viability, and hopes to expand MSME size as well as capacity, encouraging MSMEs to get listed on the main board of Stock Exchanges.

Along with the financial support offered by the scheme to MSMEs, there are a few provisions designed to benefit their chances of recovery and survival by boosting the market demand and delivery capability of the MSMEs –

1. Global tenders of upto Rs. 200 Cr to be disallowed – to ensure that Indian MSMEs can find sufficient market demand and not face unfair competition from foreign companies
2. E-marketing linkage for MSMEs is to be promoted as a replacement for trade-fairs, exhibitions and other forms of marketing that have been banned due to COVID-19
3. All receivables for MSMEs from the Govt. and CPSEs are to be released within 45 days
4. FinTech will be used to enhance transaction based lending using the data generated by the e-marketplace

Our comments:

Based on above, it seems that MSMEs, who have never availed any loan so far which not be able to get the support under this scheme. The purpose of this scheme may get lost. Government must clarify on this point. Further, the point of contention of funds of fund will always be valuations. Government must come up with the guidelines for the valuations in such cases. The only way for MSMEs at large seems to be through promotor route where promotor will take personal loan and put into MSME as equity.

2. Employees' Provident Fund Support:

The Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) has announced that the government will support employees and businesses with a combined amount of Rs. 2500 crore and Rs. 6750 crore Liquidity Support. Extending earlier support, and making new provisions for benefits to be applicable to about 6.5 lakh establishments covered under EPFO and about 4.3 crore such employees, the scheme stated –

1. Under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package (PMGKP), payment of 12% employer and employee contribution will be made into EPF accounts of eligible establishments for another 3 months – June, July and August 2020 (applicable for Employee having salary less than Rs. 15,000 and upto 100 employees)
2. Statutory PF contribution for employer and employee to be reduced to 10% (from existing 12%) for all establishments for 3 months (i.e. till August 2020)
3. 5 crore workers registered under the EPFO scheme are to get non-refundable advance from their account which will be the lower of 75% of the total amount or three months of wages
4. CPSEs and State PSUs to continue to contribute 12% as employer contribution

Our comments:

This can be some relief the MSMEs where 24% cost can be saved on their payroll cost for employees whose salaries are less than Rs. 15,000. Larger MSMEs can save upto 4% of salary cost from this provision. However, most of the companies work on CTC model and this may not directly benefit to the company unless the companies announces a salary cut.

3. Direct Tax Measures:

In order to provide more funds at the disposal of the taxpayers, and release Liquidity of Rs. 50,000 crores, the rates of Tax Deduction at Source (TDS) for non-salaried specified payments made to residents and rates of Tax Collection at Source (TCS) for the specified receipts shall be reduced by 25% of the existing rates through the entire FY 2020-21 i.e. till 31^st March 2021. This reduced rate will be applicable to payment for contract, professional fees, interest, rent, dividend, commission, brokerage, etc. Refer our blog on Revised TDS rates for New TDS rates.

Additionally, several due-dates have been revised, such as –

1. Tax audit due date has been extended till October 31^st, 2020 ( from existing September 20^th)
2. Due date for filing of income tax returns has been extended till November 30^th, 2020 ( from existing July 31^st and October 31^st)
3. Assessments getting barred on September 30^th, 2020 extended till December 31^st, 2020, and those getting barred on March 31^st, 2021 extended till September 30^th, 2021
4. Period of ‘Vivad se Vishwas Scheme’ for making payment without additional amount will be extended to December 31^st, 2020
5. All the pending income-tax refunds up to INR 5 lakh to charitable trusts and non-corporate businesses & professions including proprietorship, partnership, LLP and Co-operatives shall be issued immediately

Our comments:

This provision will definitely give some liquidity in the market. However, there will not be any immediate benefit on the same because most of the companies are delaying their payments to their suppliers. Considering the current situations, where most of the MSMEs may go into red, Government shall come out a Zero TDS auto approval scheme for all MSMEs where they can apply a Zero TDS certificate and it can be auto approved for FY 2020-21 (AY 2021-22). This can be a breather to MSMEs.

Immediate Tax refunds to MSMEs is definitely a great relief. Many MSMEs has already received this refund. Extending the due date is not a relief as such because the Indian business are very much used to due date extensions in the past and this doesn’t have any financial relief. Government must differentiate between the financials relief and procedural relief under Covid.

4. Support for NBFCs/HFCs/MFIs:

Amidst the difficulties faced by NBFCs/HFCs/MFIs in raising money in debt markets, the Govt. will launch a Rs. 30,000 crore Special Liquidity Scheme, to make investments in both primary and secondary market transactions in investment grade debt paper of NBFCs/HFCs/MFIs. The securities will be fully guaranteed by the Govt. and RBI/Govt. measures will be supplemented to augment the liquidity.

Furthermore, those NBFCs/HFCs/MFIs whose credit rating is too low, will be given liquidity to do fresh lending to MSMEs and individuals via the extension of the PCGS to PCGS 2.0 whichwill also cover borrowings such as primary issuance of Bonds/CPs of such entities. The Govt. will bear the first 20% of the losses. This is estimated to release liquidity of up to Rs. 45000 Crore.

Our comments:

This measure is expected to have some impact on MSMEs getting funds form NBFCs/HFCs and MFIs.

5. Support for DISCOMs:

Power Distribution Companies (DISCOMs) are also at a very low point due to plummeting revenues and unprecedented cash flow problems. Currently, the DISCOM payables to Power Generation and Transmission Companies (Gencos) are ~ Rs 94,000 crore. The Govt. will inject liquidity of Rs.90,000 crore to DISCOMs against receivables through loans given against State guarantees for the exclusive purpose of discharging liabilities of Discoms to Gencos.

The DISCOMs will be required to perform specific activities/ reforms in linkage to these loans, such as –

1. Digital payments facility by Discoms for consumers
2. liquidation of outstanding dues of State Governments
3. Plan to reduce financial and operational losses

Central Public Sector Gencos will give a rebate to Discoms, which shall be passed on to the final consumers (industries).

Our comments:

Government should have looked into giving some direct relief to MSMEs in terms of waiving fix load charges for next 6 months. That could have benefited the MSMEs directly in lowering their outflow.

6. Miscellaneous support actions:

Various other measures to help support the industry, especially MSMEs and small businessmen, are being arranged for, including –

7. Relaxation in Statutory and Compliance Matters:

Statutory regulations and compliance requirements are getting temporarily relaxed to encourage economic recovery –

1. Extending last date for Income Tax Returns to June 30^th, 2020
2. Extending filing GST returns to end of June 2020
3. 24*7 custom clearance till 30^th June, 2020
4. Relaxation for 3 months for debit cardholders to withdraw cash free from any ATMs, etc
5. Allowing payment before 15^th May, 2020 for Motor Vehicle and Health Insurance Policies
6. Mandatory Board meetings extended by 60 days till 30^th September
7. Allowing Extraordinary General Meetings through Video Conference with e-voting/simplified voting facility

Our comments:

No financial relief. These are just procedural relief and not going to have any implications on MSME survival.

8. Measures taken by the RBI:

The Reserve Bank of India has been requested by the Govt. of India to provide relied for the economy, and has raised the Ways and Means advanced limits of States by 60% and enhanced the Overdraft duration limits. Additionally, the following measures were also taken –

1. Moratorium of three months on payment of installments and payment of Interest on Working Capital Facilities in respect of all Term Loans
2. Easing of Working Capital Financing by reducing margins
3. Reduction of Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) has resulted in liquidity enhancement of Rs. 1,37,000 crores
4. Targeted Long Term Repo Operations (TLTROs) of Rs. 1,00,050 crore for fresh deployment in investment grade corporate bonds, commercial paper, and non-convertible debentures
5. TLTRO of Rs.50,000 crore for investing them in investment grade bonds, commercial paper, and non-convertible debentures of NBFCs, and MFIs
6. Increased the banks’ limit for borrowing overnight under the marginal standing facility (MSF), allowing the banking system to avail an additional Rs. 1,37,000 crore of liquidity at the reduced MSF rate
7. Announced special refinance facilities to NABARD, SIDBI and the NHB for a total amount of Rs. 50,000 crore at the policy repo rate
8. Announced the opening of a special liquidity facility (SLF) of Rs. 50,000 crore for mutual funds to alleviate intensified liquidity pressures
9. For loans by NBFCs to commercial real estate sector, additional time of one year has been given for extension of the date for commencement for commercial operations (DCCO)

Our comments:

These measures are expected to solve liquidity issues in the market, which is essential in the current scenario. However, there is no direct benefits to MSMEs in the country.

9. Relief measures for Contractors:

Certain relief measures are being put into place for contractors to ensure that construction stays alive and begins recovering example

1. Extension of up to 6 months (without costs to contractor) to be provided by all Central Agencies (like Railways, Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, Central Public Works Dept, etc.) This will cover construction/works and goods and services contracts and obligations like completion of work, intermediate milestones and extension of concession period in PPP contracts
2. Government agencies to partially release bank guarantees, to the extent contracts are partially completed, to ease cash flows

Our comments:

These measures are expected to help a lot of MSMEs who had given bank guarantees on government projects. Bank guarantee also cost money to MSMEs and this will help them to reduce their cost.

10. Relief measures under RERA:

The adverse effects of the COVID-19 lockdown and quarantines put projects in risk of defaulting on RERA timelines, and timelines need to be extended. These measures taken by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs will de-stress real estate developers and ensure completion of projects so that home buyers are able to get delivery of their booked houses with new timelines, by advising States/UTs to –

1. Treat COVID-19 as an event of ‘Force Majeure’ under RERA
2. Extend the registration and completion date suo-moto by 6 months for all registered projects expiring on or after 25^th March, 2020 without individual applications
3. Regulatory Authorities may extend this for another period of upto 3 months, if needed
4. Issue fresh ‘Project Registration Certificates’ automatically with revised timelines
5. Extend timelines for various statuary compliances under RERA concurrently

Our comments:

Since its enactment, RERA has given hard times to Builders. This interim relief will help real estate segments some breather in not falling into trap of RERA. However, real estate expected much significant government support to boost the demand. Considering the existing level of real estate inventory in the country, if immediate steps are not taken by government to boost real estate demand, it will be a challenging situation for this sector.

Get the benefits you deserve with TYASuite

Make sure that you receive all the benefits you are due from this new relief scheme by the Govt. of India by signing up with TYASuite Software Solutions. With our plug-and-play cloud ERP software, get integrated access to all modules of business processing in one single platform, and have complete access over remote cloud-based applications.

With our Procurement to Pay, Project Management, Compliance Management, Vendor Management, Inventory Management, Asset Management and full deck of ERP tools, make sure you stay on top of the coming economic revolution. Never miss out important news, manage your business seamlessly and enhance your profitability by going digital with TYASuite.

Sign up today for a FREE DEMO, and get 3 months usage of our tools for no cost!

Covid has left the entire world in a panic situation. Government is announcing bunch of measures to pump liquidity in the market.

Through Press release on Revised TDS rates post Covid on May 13^th, 2020, CDBT announced Revised TDS rates and TCS for certain sections. Please do note that all sections rates are not reduced.

For the benefit of our readers, we have summarized complete revised TDS Rates applicable for FY 2020-21 (AY 2021-22) effective May 14^th, 2020. (COVID TDS Rates).

New TDS Rates For Assessment year 2021-22:

Further a flat 25% reduction in TCS rates has also been done.

Refer our separate discussion on TDS on Non-residents or write an email to our expert at Info@tya.co.in for free analysis of your TDS on non-resident queries.

In case you wish to automate your TDS compliances, you can subscribe to automated E-Procurement Software. As a support to MSMEs in this difficult time, TYASuite is offering 6 months free subscription to their E-Procurement Software. Avail the Free Subscription today.

Among the adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global economy, one of the worst-hit components has been the supply chain. The worldwide cessation of transport and logistics facilities has left the supply chain destroyed, and procurement processes have been consequently affected by it as well. For the economy to recover, and businesses to resume their production, procurement must first be re-instated with haste.

Major Adverse Impacts

Due to the worldwide transportation, logistics and human-to-human contact limitations, the supply chain has suffered multiple blows, and the major impacts have been -

Overcrowding in warehouses

With a lack of road, sea and air transport, warehouses have been overcrowded, and massive losses have been suffered due to the expiration and damage of goods that have been in storage for too long.

Projected costs of transportation are rising

The projected costs of transportation post the lockdown are rising as the lockdowns are extended, with transport and logistics companies looking to recover the losses suffered during the lockdowns. With rising transportation costs, the overall procurement cost will also have to rise for vendors to balance their sheets.

Vendor interests are waning

Due to the severe disruptions in the supply chain, many smaller vendors are looking for different modes of income, and the overall interest in the role of being a vendor is waning. Many vendors have had to resort to finding other modes of income simply to maintain their livelihoods, and the prospect of the future difficulties in vendor activity is discouraging potential vendors from joining the trade.

How Improved Procurement Can Save the Day?

The role of advanced procurement processes and methods is critical in the near future for the recovery of the economy worldwide. With suitably designed procurement processes, such as digital Procurement Software, businesses will be able to ?

Identify potential risks in Inventory Management

Companies, especially in the manufacturing sector, will need to urgently identify which of their inventory items and raw material requirements are at the greatest risk of unavailability. High-risk items such as hardware, electronics, construction materials, chemical ingredients, etc. will have to be sourced with great care. With digital Procurement to Pay software and automated Inventory Management Software, they will be able to access unified data structures that provide analysis tools and reports that will help them identify the risks.

Gain real-time awareness of the entire procurement cycle

Businesses that have a multifaceted procurement process, dealing with multiple vendors and inventory, will need to make sure that they are always aware of each moving part. Only such constant awareness will help them ensure that their inventory is always sufficiently stocked, and sudden or unexpected shortages or missing components don?t halt their manufacturing or service processes. With cloud-based digital Procurement to Pay Software, Vendor Management Software and Inventory Management Software, they can gain this awareness through mobile surveillance of inventory, vendor activity and real-time notification/alert systems.

Fill in the gaps made by the lockdown

With an e-procurement solution, companies can ensure that the lockdown-related social distancing and quarantine rules don?t interrupt their procurement cycle. With the ability to raise PRs and POs, facilitate multi-level approvals, track the GRN and IRN flows and finalize payment procedures all from one cloud-based platform, managers will be able to ensure productivity from their laptops or smartphones during the lockdown or quarantine conditions.

Shifting Your Procurement from Manual to Digital - The TYASuite e-Procurement Solution

There needs to be a worldwide shift from manual procurement processing to a digital cloud-based solution for these steps to be taken. This requires a lot of awareness and education when it comes to small businesses, start-ups and other players in the MSME sector. The only way to ensure that the world economy will revitalize the global supply chain is by making them aware of the importance of going digital and helping them through the process. The TYASuite cloud ERP solutions are designed for this very purpose.

With an affordable, scalable and flexible suite of ERP software, the TYASuite ERP solution can help these small businesses transform their procurement to suit the post COVID-19 requirements. The TYASuite P2P module can help automate, streamline and digitalize the procurement to pay process, boosting productivity, efficiency and profitability within weeks of implementation.

The COVID-19 outbreak incident surfaced in Dec 2019 and the condition has continued to evolve throughout after April 30^th, 2020. The lockdown has eased in certain parts of the country based on the zone ratings. However, the overall risk remains high.

Finance & accounting along with internal auditing will have to undergo a sea of changes to keep up with this pandemic. This publication covers key areas to be considered during and after the pandemic by CFOs and Internal Audit professionals.

1. Pandemic risk not covered as part of Enterprise Risk Assessment

Your Company is not the only one who has not covered the pandemic as part of the Enterprise Risk Assessment. However, you must need to response faster now. Below are the key actionable strategies for such a scenario:

• Customer engagement should be the priority. Clear and factual communication should be established with customers on a regular basis. Inputs/queries from the customers should be responded to in time with clear facts.
• Workforce protection will ensure that employees are taken care of. Clear and precise communication should be maintained with all employees on dos and don'ts during this time while explaining what the company is doing to take good care of them. Further, every employee's needs, health and safety, and fears should be addressed in a consistent manner.
• Supply chain should be stabilized by connecting with the existing suppliers while identifying alternate sources/suppliers and minimizing the lead time for supplies.
• Stress testing of financials will be important to understand how long the company can survive and what can be done to improve the situation. Different scenarios with a mix of revenue, receivables-collections, Govt. rules/ guidelines, credit period, fixed cost, variable cost and commitments need to be considered.
• A single source of truth from the company is going to be a major binding factor. The employees, the customers, the suppliers, and other parties are going to rely on it and assess the company's situation during these trying times.

2. SOX/ IFC/ ICFR program adjustments

• Reassess scoping based on the Q4 2019-20 no. and consider the impact of COVID-19 on estimates.
• Business Continuity coverage of financials and relevant data should be assessed.
• Delegation of authority (DOA) should be re-assessed and steps should be taken to flatten it.
• Reduced staff availability should be factored into the planning.
• Outsourced service provider (OSP) SOC reports are to be reviewed thoroughly. Pass on key concerns on COVID-19 with OSPs.
• Reassess controls as to whether they can be performed from different geographies.
• Remove single-person dependency.
• Recording control activities (like covering meetings, and reviews) with the right individuals as audit evidence. This should be done after considering the company?s policies and the law of the land.
• Move from paper-based entry to digital entry and digital approval (date, name of the reviewer and time). If required implement some automation tools for your business process with Procurement to Pay software, Project Management Tools, Compliance Management Tools, Vendor Management Software and others.
• SOD conflicts may arise due to business needs but audit trail should be present. Good cloud ERP will be handy in these conditions.
• Management override checks should be monitored frequently.

3. Contract compliance, modification and termination

• Review whether a tracking mechanism for contract compliance is in place and operating effectively. There are many compliance management software in the market and you can take the advance of the same to manage your contract compliance.
• Reassess contract clauses for relief during this time (like termination rights, disaster recovery and business continuity, notice, force majeure, insurance).
• Analyze contracts which can be modified to meet:
• Revised business plan,
• Govt. guidelines (like delay in rent collection, salary deductions and employee termination).

4. Business continuity and disaster recovery

• Tone at the top covering communication with customers, employees, supply chain vendors, local communities and law enforcement authorities.
• Business plan will need revision considering reduced staff, business trends and flattening of DOA.
• Reassess customer/business trends cutting down on production; re-forecast your capacity and resource requirements.
• Manuals/SOP to be updated with relevant BCPDR steps and the same should be easily accessible. Many Cloud ERP software has inbuilt function of managing SOPs at user role level.
• Use space on the local drives/shared drive/cloud to store daily work of all employees. Project Management software can be very useful in these moments.

5. IT security and automation opportunities

• User access control - request and use of such controls to be monitored. Your ERP must have option to monitor and approval process to change any user role and track those changes.
• Constant communication for cyber awareness, threat detection, practical examples and responses to promote proactive identification of malicious activity.
• Security of Company data while using hand-held devices should be assessed.
• Data security and integrity during transit.
• Adequacy of licenses and third party applications should be done periodically.
• Assessment and action on automation opportunities.
• Financial transformation processes should be activated and tested now.

6. HR management

• Remote working will require clear guidelines and reliable technology. Cloud Software has become an item is necessity now.
• Flexible working hours should be incorporated in day-to-day work.
• Absenteeism/productivity will need a new definition and new set of rules.
• Contract employees are going to be a new norm among companies who need a specific skill set only for a particular period during the year.
• Employee goals, manpower-budget and hiring policies will need revision. Candidates with an aptitude to work remotely will be preferred.
• Communicate effectively and often with employees.

7. Adjustment to internal audit plan

• Internal audit plan to be revised wherein new items which are now relevant w.r.t. COVID 19 will be scoped in and items not relevant now will be scoped out/ frequency will be adjusted.
• Plan the audit calendar with fewer employees.
• Use of technology, data analytics and electronic work paper has to be incorporated.
• Develop steps which reduce interactions/inputs from Business personnel.
• Consider adopting an agile internal audit plan wherein a short term plan is developed for key risk areas with tight schedules. This will help the company match their pace with the fast changing risk environment.

8. Compliance management

• Tracking of changes to Finance Act 2020 and other relevant acts (like indirect tax, local laws, relief provided by Govt., SEC) should be done on a real time basis.
• Tracking compliance with all laws and regulations and non-compliance should be highlighted.
• Tracking correspondence with Govt./regulatory officials and fixing responsibility.
• Ensuring timely action.
• Compliance Management Tools will be a savior in this time.

9. Supply chain management

• Identifying alternate source/suppliers with lead time for supplies.
• Arrange for requisite Govt./local admin permissions for supplies/resources.
• Review the current stock/capacity and lead time to assess the ability to meet the revised business plan.
• Identify potential disruptions in the supply chain and ways to address it.
• Ensure compliance with relevant laws of the land (like OFAC, Govt. guidelines) when dealing with overseas/new vendors.

10. Treasury management

• Revisit working capital requirements considering revised cash flow projections and new set of assumptions.
• Constant co-ordination will be required with all departments to identify priority and non-priority payments.
• Identifying, assessing and acting on the Govt. stimulus/credit support and its long term implications.
• Reassess all short term investments in light of the current economic scenario.
• Evaluate various financial positions taken (like hedge, put option).

11. Effective and timely book closure

• Book closure checklist should be detailed with names of doer, reviewer and timelines. The same should be updated on a real time basis to capture all changes.
• The doer and the reviewershould have access to data and systems/applications.
• A Platform should be developedwhich provides access to the reviewer of the data prepared by the doer, proposed entries, reconciliation and supporting documentation. The entry be pushed to the ERP/accounting software once the same is approved.
• Approval documentation should be saved for control testing.

12. Post lockdown suggestions

• Develop a business plan with a conservative approach towards customer's expectations and future economic scenario. At the same time, explore new markets and products.
• Take a hard look at all the contracts which made the company bleed during the pandemic and devise ways to safeguard company's interest in the future.
• Revising the operating model to adjust to new safety expectations from the client, employees and vendors.
• Revisit the supply chain and move operations from offshore locations.

a. To near the production site, or

b. At the production site.

• Invest in technology which can ensure.

a. Reduction in human-to-human interaction,

b. Remote working,

c. Data security, and

d. Data encryption facility during transit.

• Re-assess long term capital commitments.
• Revise resource management with a fresh look at contract work force across all levels.
• Reduce manual work to the maximum extent possible and move from a person/individual driven to a process driven working environment.

If you are not sure how to proceed in the current circumstances, you can reach out to the author Mr. Ravi at Ravi.k@tya.co.in for free guidance and consultations.

TYASuite is giving various performance improvement and remote management software for FREE. You can avail any of the software and improve efficiency and manage risks while fighting the COVID-19. Procurement to Pay Software, Compliance Management Software and Project Management Software has been in high demand since Covid-19 outbreak. What best is that you can go live in 7 days with our Plug and Pay ERP.