Want businesses to focus on innovation, not on paperwork and penalties: Finance Minister Sitharaman

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday while addressing a post-budget webinar announced that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government is set to bring Jan Vishwas Bill 2.0 to decriminalise over 100 provisions.

"Our government remains steadfast in reducing regulatory burden and enhancing trust based governance to improve ease of doing business, said Sitharaman.

"Through the Budget announcements, we are taking various steps towards making India a seamless and export-friendly economy where the businesses are free to work on innovation, and not on paperwork and penalties," added Sitharaman.


"Will further bring Jan Vishwas Bill 2.0 to further decriminalise over 100 provisions," said Sitharaman.

Jan Vishwas 2.0

Around 82 provisions across 17 Acts and 11 ministries -- from Education to Road Transport & Highways -- have so far been identified for proposed "decriminalisation"/ modification to improve 'Ease of Doing Business' under the upcoming second edition of Jan Vishwas 2.0, ET has learnt.

The Centre is also learnt to be making a strong pitch for states to draw up their own Jan Vishvas bills to reduce overlaps in the law, citing the example of Madhya Pradesh which brought in a law in December 2024.

The Union budget 2025 announced that the government will bring up the Jan Vishwas Bill 2.0 "to decriminalise more than 100 provisions in various laws". 183 such provisions were identified under the Jan Vishwas Act, 2023.

For its second edition, the Department for Promotion of Industry & Internal Trade (DPIIT) is learnt to have examined 942 provisions across 129 Acts and in 32 ministries/departments. 82 of these have been identified as priority areas.