Govt to fast track reduction of compliance burden: DPIIT addl secy

The Bill, prepared by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), has proposed amendments to 355 provisions under 16 central laws administered by 10 govt departments, ministry

After taking steps to decriminalise minor offences, the Centre is on ‘fast track’ mode to reduce or simplify compliance burden on the industry, as part of its push to further boost ease of doing business.

 

“More importantly (other than) decriminalisation is the compliance burden, which also needs to go down. That is something, which we are moving on a fast track mode,” Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) additional secretary Himani Pande said on Tuesday at an event organised by industry lobby group FICCI.

 

She also said that the government has already introduced Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2025 in the Lok Sabha.

 

The Bill, prepared by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), has proposed amendments to 355 provisions under 16 central laws administered by 10 government departments and ministries.

 

Of these, 288 provisions will be decriminalised to boost ease of doing business. Besides, 67 provisions will be amended to facilitate ease of living. The proposed law also intends to reduce the burden on the judicial system by focusing on civil penalties, instead of criminal prosecutions for minor or unintentional violations.

 

According to Pande, decriminalisation alone cannot reduce compliance burden.

 

“(Decriminalisation) does take away the offence, but the compliance remains and that is something that we are working on now. As to how many of those compliances could be simplified or reduced if possible. If neither is possible, then we think that more digitisation will make it easier to comply with,” she said, urging the industry to give specific inputs regarding compliance or other challenges as targeted suggestions can simplify rules.

 

She further said that the Cabinet secretariat is already driving the deregulation agenda at the Centre as well as the state level. “You have a task force and each task force member has been given a lot in a couple of states. They have been going and reviewing across each state,” Pande said.