Govt to deregulate more sectors, reduce red tape

Union budget set to offer road map to reduce compliance burden on businesses

- Gireesh Chandra Prasad

The central government is assessing regulations across sectors to identify the ones that can be relaxed in the upcoming budget and beyond to cut red tape and help revive growth in a slowing economy, according to three people familiar with internal deliberations.

Preliminary discussions are underway to identify the sectors where regulatory easing could stimulate growth, the people said on the condition of anonymity as details have not been finalized yet.

One area that will get attention in the deregulation effort is the impact of existing rules and actions of regulatory bodies on the entities under their jurisdiction, according to one of the three people quoted earlier. If there are areas of over-regulation, it will be addressed, the person said. None of the people quoted above, however, mentioned sectors or specific regulations that are under review.

Queries emailed on Friday to the finance ministry, Niti Aayog, and the Prime Minister's Office remained unanswered at the time of publishing.

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman's budget proposals for the next fiscal 2025-26—to be presented on 1 February—will be keenly watched as India's urban consumption has slowed and the pace of growth cooled.