The Government is spearheading the initiatives under Ease of Doing Business and Reducing Compliance Burden which are aimed at creating a conducive business environment, the Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Shri Som Parkash said in reply to a parliamentary question on February 10, 2023.
These initiatives aim to extend benefit to all entities/sectors/industries of the economy, including startups.
The key focus areas of the initiatives are:
- Simplification of procedures related to applications, renewals, inspections, filing records, etc.,
- Rationalization by repealing, amending or subsuming redundant laws,
- Digitization by creating online interfaces eliminating manual forms and records, and
- Decriminalization of minor technical or procedural defaults.
Specifically for startup ecosystem, the Government has taken various measures to enhance ease of doing business, raising capital and reducing compliance burden. In this regard, as on December 31, 2022, a list of the 53 key regulatory reforms undertaken for startup ecosystem is placed at Annexure-I.
In addition to ongoing schemes of various Departments and Ministries, Government has taken various steps to boost domestic and foreign investments in India. These include the introduction of Goods and Services Tax, reduction in corporate taxes, financial market reforms, consolidation of public sector banks, enactment of four labour codes, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policy reforms, reduction in compliance burden, policy measures to boost domestic manufacturing through public procurement orders, Phased Manufacturing Programme, to name a few. To promote FDI in the country, the Government has put in place an investor-friendly policy, wherein most sectors except certain strategically important sectors are open for 100% FDI under the automatic route. Further, the policy on FDI is reviewed on an ongoing basis, to ensure that India remains attractive and investor friendly destination. Changes are made in the policy after having consultations with stakeholders including apex industry chambers, associations, representatives of industries/groups and other organizations.
Furthermore, the Government has unveiled National Single Window System (NSWS) to provide a single platform to enable the identification and obtaining of approvals and clearances needed by investors, entrepreneurs, and businesses in India. NSWS is providing a single interface to apply for all Government to Business (G2B) clearances from various Ministries/Departments as well as eliminating duplication of work by auto-populating form fields across different approvals based on single investor profile.
The Press Release along with Annexure can be accessed at: https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1898016