Leading industry associations, including FICCI, CII, and ASSOCHAM, have jointly appealed to the government to streamline the complex compliance requirements facing businesses and non-profit organizations. The move comes amid growing concerns that excessive regulatory formalities are hampering operational efficiency, particularly for MSMEs and startups. The associations propose a single-window digital portal to consolidate multiple filings and introduce auto-renewal mechanisms for routine approvals.

The current system requires organizations to comply with over 1,500 laws and regulations, often involving repetitive submissions to different departments. “An MSME spends nearly 120 hours per month just on compliance activities,” revealed a recent CII survey. The associations recommend adopting AI-based compliance tracking and rationalizing overlapping provisions across labor, environmental, and taxation laws. Their proposal includes graded penalties for minor violations and a ‘silence is consent’ rule for delayed government responses.

While the Ministry of Corporate Affairs has acknowledged receiving these suggestions, officials indicate that any reforms would need to balance simplification with necessary oversight. Pilot tests of simplified compliance mechanisms are reportedly underway in Gujarat and Karnataka. Stakeholders hope these changes could significantly reduce the current 30% average operational cost attributed to regulatory compliance, boosting India’s ease of doing business rankings.