Of the 200, 000 new small-business licences issued, some two-thirds are thought to have gone to existing, but previously clandestine, outfits.

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These data include birth certificates, business licences, liens, convictions and so on.

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To help matters, a numer of universities established technology-transfer offices on campus, with professional staff to identify business partners, negotiate licences, and even assist academics in launching their own start-ups.

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Small firms such as newsagents, pubs and off-licences being put out of business.

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This refers to the plethora of fees, levies, licences and bribes the bureaucracy exacts from business.

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No major business or consortium has publicly declared an interest in applying for the two Scottish licences.

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Taxi drivers, however, have expressed concern that granting the vehicles Hackney carriage licences - meaning they can use taxi ranks - would affect their business.

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Other financial firms with banking licences, such as Kotak Mahindra, have been shifting towards the lending business and away from capital markets where profitability has fallen, partly thanks to a rush of foreign investment banks into India.

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