More than 22,000 compliances have been reduced by Union Ministries, States & UTs so far under the initiative to reduce compliance burden. In addition, about 13,000 compliances have been simplified and more than 1,200 processes have been digitised, according to the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).

The aim of the exercise is to simplify, decriminalise and remove redundant laws, said Piyush Goyal at the National Workshop on Reducing Compliance Burden on Tuesday.

“Reduction of compliances, which include simplification of compliances, elimination of several compliances, decriminalisation of several laws...Collectively when you look at it, it can have a transformative impact and there is a multiplier effect on the ease of doing business,” he said.

Comprehensive review

In July 2020, the Cabinet Secretary had written to all Ministries to set up a dedicated team to examine acts and regulations under their purview and reduce the compliance burden for citizens and business activities. DPIIT had been directed to act as a nodal department to coordinate the exercise.

To reduce these burdens, every Ministry, Department and State was asked to conduct a comprehensive review of compliances under their purview to understand their relevance and rationale and undertake a complete re-engineering process to eliminate burdensome compliances.

Continued reforms

In the last few years, 103 offences have been decriminalised and 327 redundant provisions and laws have been removed.

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Under the initiative, 46 penal provisions of the Companies Act, 2013 and 12 offences under the limited liability partnership (LLP) Act, 2008 were decriminalised.

It was noted at the workshop that many States had also maintained the momentum of continued reforms by implementing licensing reforms, computerised central random inspection system, labour reforms, and initiatives to support medium, small and micro enterprises (MSMEs) and industrial development in the true spirit of cooperative federalism.

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