Govt has focused on further decriminalization to enhance Ease of Living and EODB: MoS
Published: Dec 16, 2025
By TIOLCorplaws News Service
NEW DELHI, DEC 16, 2025: THE Government has undertaken the following specific initiatives and policies to strengthen the Ease of Doing Business in the country since 2014:
(i) The Business Reform Action Plan (BRAP), launched in 2014 by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), aims to reduce obstacles and enhance the transparency and efficiency of clearance and regulatory processes, thereby cutting down time and costs for businesses. States and Union Territories are assessed based on evidence and user feedback to ensure effective reforms at the grassroots level. So far, seven editions of BRAP have been completed.
(ii) Amendments have been made in the Companies Act, 2013 (CA-13) in 2015 & 2017 to facilitate ease of doing business and address concerns expressed by industry chambers & other stakeholders.
(iii) Amendments have been made in CA-13 in 2019 and 2020 to de-criminalize technical & procedural violations and thus reduce the burden on criminal courts & National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). They were also aimed at streamlining compliance requirements for Small Companies, One Person Companies, Start-ups and Producer companies.
(iv) Amendments have been made in the Limited Liability Partnership (Amendment) Act, 2021 to decriminalise technical & procedural violations. A new category of "Small LLP" was established for providing reduced compliance burden and lower fees to encourage formalization of small businesses.
(v) Exemptions from various provisions of Companies Act to Private companies, Government Companies, Charitable companies, Nidhis and IFSC (GIFT city) companies have been provided through issuance of notifications under section 462 of the CA-13 during 2015, 2017 and 2020.
(vi) There is no fee for incorporation of company with authorized capital up to Rs.15.00 Lakh.
(vii) Direct listing of securities by Indian public companies in permissible foreign jurisdictions has been allowed. This is a boost for "Brand India" and increases attractiveness to growing technology sector, stimulates efficiency & growth, provides alternative source of capital and broadens investor base.
(viii) The scope of fast-track merger was expanded in February 2021 to allow mergers of Start-ups with other Start-ups and with Small companies. The ambit has been further broadened in September 2025 to allow more classes of companies to choose this route. The rules have also been amended so that the "deemed approval" requirement is implemented more effectively for fast-track mergers.
(ix) The Central Registration Centre (CRC) was operationalized in 2016 to provide speedy incorporation related services. An e-Form SPICe+ along with a linked form called AGILE PRO-S was introduced for providing different services at one place such as Name Reservation, Incorporation, Allotment of PAN, TAN, DIN, EPFO Registration, ESIC Registration, GST number, opening of Bank Account etc. at the time of incorporation of company to start the business immediately. Similarly, new e-Form FiLLiP (Form for incorporation of Limited Liability Partnership) was introduced for LLPs.
(x) The Centre for Processing Accelerated Corporate Exit (C-PACE) was established in May 2023 enabling the stakeholders by providing a hassle-free filing, timely and process-bound striking off their companies' and LLPs' names from the Register.
(xi) The Central Processing Centre (CPC) was established in February 2024 for centralized processing of 12 non-STP forms.
(xii) The Companies (Adjudication of Penalties) Rules, 2014 have been amended in August 2024 pursuant to which it has been provided that the adjudication proceedings under section 454 of the Companies Act, 2013 shall take place in electronic mode only through the e-adjudication platform developed by the Ministry for this purpose. The platform provides for end-to-end digital process including online generation of notices, hearings, generation of adjudication orders and payments. This enhances transparency and enables speeder adjudication.
In addition, the Government has focused on further decriminalization to enhance Ease of Living and Ease of Doing Business. This includes the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Act, 2023, which decriminalized 183 provisions across 42 Central Acts. Under the initiative to reduce compliance burden, Central Ministries/Departments and States/UTs have successfully reduced over 47,000 compliances through self-identification exercises by way of simplification, digitization, decriminalization and redundancy removal.
As on 31st March, 2014, there were 9, 52,433 active companies in the country. The number of active companies on 31st March, 2025 stood at 18, 50,932. This shows that the initiatives listed out above have led to almost doubling of active companies, contributing significantly to the growth of economy.
Data analytics-driven features have been integrated in MCA21 V3 including enforcement and compliance modules. These include Early Warning System and Compliance Management System which use risk-based classification of companies and filings, automated generation of alerts, exception reports, and pattern analysis of non-compliance.
This information was given by the Minister of State in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs; and the Minister of State in the Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways, Harsh Malhotra in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha yesterday.
