Lok Sabha Question No. 2475 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-12-15
Subject: Ease of Doing Business
Ministry: CORPORATE AFFAIRS
Asked by: Shri Ganesh Singh

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF CORPORATE AFFAIRS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2475 ANSWERED ON MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2025 AGRAHAYANA 24, 1947 (SAKA)

## EASE OF DOING BUSINESS

## QUESTION

2475. Shri Ganesh Singh:

Will the Minister of CORPORATE AFFAIRS

be pleased to state:

- (a)  whether  the  Government  has  taken  any  specific  initiatives, policies  or  corrective  measures  to  strengthen  the  Ease  of  Doing Business in the country since 2014;
- (b) if so, the details thereof;
- (c)  the  concrete  results  or  impacts  achieved  so  far  from  the implementation  of  the  said  policies  and  schemes  in  terms  of company  registration, simplification  of  compliance  procedures, improvement in investment environment etc.;
- (d) whether the Government has taken any initiatives to modernize corporate  governance  and  monitoring  systems  through  artificial intelligence or other technological innovations; and
- (e) if so, the details thereof along with the outcomes thereof?

## ANSWER

THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF CORPORATE AFAIRS AND MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF ROAD, TRANSPORT

AND HIGHWAYS

[SHRI HARSH MALHOTRA]

(a) to (b): Yes, the Government has undertaken specific initiatives and policies  to  strengthen  the  Ease  of  Doing  Business  in  the  country since 2014, such as:

- (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 (CPACE) 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.

(c): As on 31st March, 2014, there were 9,52,433 active companies in the country. The number of active companies on 31 st  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. (d)  &  (e):  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, pattern analysis of non-compliance.

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