CII suggests 10-point agenda on ease of business reforms ahead of Budget

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman chairs the ninth Pre-Budget Consultation with the experts from the Infrastructure, Energy and Urban Sectors in connection with the forthcoming Union Budget 2025-26, in New Delhi.
| Photo Credit: ANI

Ahead of the upcoming Budget, industry bodyConfederation of Indian Industry (CII) on Sunday (January 12, 2025) suggested a 10-point agenda to drive ease of doing business reforms, aimed at reducing compliance burden, simplifying regulatory frameworks, and improving transparency.

Among the “urgent policy interventions”, the industry body has recommended that all regulatory approvals – central, state and local levels – must mandatorily be provided only through the National Single Window System.

It has also pitched for expediting the process of dispute resolution by improving the capacity of courts and placing greater reliance on alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mechanism.

For streamlining environmental compliances, CII said, a unified framework could be introduced, which consolidates all requirements into a single document.

Emphasising that easy access to land is important to facilitate new or expanding businesses, it said that states may be incentivised to develop an online integrated land authority with an objective to streamline land banks, digitise and integrate land records, provide information on disputed land and guide necessary reforms.

To assist industry in land acquisition across nation, the India Industrial Land Bank (IILB), which provides information on land across majority of states, can be evolved into a national-level land bank, with dedicated central budget support, it said.

While India has over the last decade remained focused on improving ease of doing business (EoDB), there is a need to maintain the momentum, especially in certain specific areas, the CII stated.

CII Director General Chandrajit Banerjee said, “Simplifying regulatory frameworks, reducing compliance burdens, and enhancing transparency should continue to remain our focus agenda for next several years. Compliances for industry related to various areas such as land, labour, dispute resolution, paying taxes and environment offer a vast scope for reduction, vital for boosting competitiveness, driving economic growth and employment generation.” To ensure timely processing of industry applications and delivery of services from the central ministries, an Act, imposing statutory obligation on all public authorities for time-bound delivery of services and redressal of grievances, could be passed, with provision of deemed approval beyond the prescribed timeline, CII suggested.

It stressed that the scope of the National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG), which has been set up to identify, manage and reduce pendency of cases across the courts, needs to be expanded to include the data of tribunals, which constitute substantial chunk of pendency of cases in the system.

Arguing that labour compliances continue to be extensive and arduous and await the implementation of the four labour codes, it called for the scope of the Shram Suvidha Portal, which facilitates integrated compliances in just a few select central Acts, to be expanded to function as a centralised portal for all central and state labour laws compliances.

Asserting that improving trade facilitation is important, it said there is a need to make the Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) programme, which allows numerous priority clearances to members, could be made more attractive and easier to join, it noted as part of the 10-point agenda.

Flagging the “high and rising pendency of tax disputes” as a major issue, CII said there is a need to minimise income tax litigation by unclogging the pendency at the level of Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) and improving the effectiveness of ADR mechanism such as Advance Pricing Agreement, Boards for Advance Rulings and Dispute Resolution Scheme, as part of the EoDB reforms.