A “Holistic Decriminalization” Bill to be presented in the Winter Session of Parliament by the Union Government (16/12/2022)
A “Holistic Decriminalization” Bill to be presented in the Winter Session of Parliament by the Union Government
Of the 1,536 laws that govern doing business in India, more than half carry imprisonment clauses; of the 69,233 compliances that businesses have to follow, 37.8 percent (almost 2 out of every five) carry imprisonment clauses, per Observer Research Foundation.
These imprisonment clauses have created complexity and ambiguity among small business owners as they do not have the necessary means and information to comply with such a large number of compliances and statutes. As a result, small businesses are forced to deal with CAs, Company Secretaries, and lawyers for end-to-end managed services, which adds to their annual cost of compliance.
For reducing unnecessary and burdensome compliances and further the ease of doing business in India, the Union Government recently announced that it will present a “holistic decriminalization” bill in the winter session of Parliament this month.
This move should rationalize the compliances and imprisonment clauses – retain a handful, remove most, and wherever appropriate turn physical imprisonment into financial penalties which will enable the entrepreneurs to focus on their business instead of catering to a number of unnecessary compliances.