Ministry of Corporate Affairs
Government has focused on further decriminalization to enhance Ease of Living
and Ease of Doing Business; Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Act, 2023
decriminalized 183 provisions across 42 Central Acts.
Posted On: 15 DEC 2025 5:53PM by PIB Delhi
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, Shri Harsh Malhotra in a written reply to a
question in Lok Sabha today.
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NB/ONP
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