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The Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Act, 2026 decriminalises 717 provisions and amends 784 provisions in all across 79 Central Acts administered by 23 Ministries — more than four times the reach of the 2023 Act.
The National Single Window System, launched in 2021, now integrates approvals across 32 Central ministries and 34 States, offering over 686 central and 7,498 state approvals, and had granted over 8.29 lakh approvals as of November 2025.
Over 47,000 compliances have been reduced as of November 2025 — 16,108 simplified, 22,287 digitised, 4,458 decriminalised and 4,270 redundant ones removed.
DPIIT-recognised startups rose from 502 in 2016 to over 2.47 lakh as on 12 August 2026, and GST-registered taxpayers from about 60 lakh in 2017 to over 1.68 crore as on 31 July 2026.
Government e-Marketplace has facilitated cumulative procurement of over ₹20 lakh crore, connecting more than 1.37 lakh government buyer organisations with nearly 25 lakh sellers as on 6 August 2026.
Replace imprisonment for minor, technical and procedural defaults with monetary penalties, warnings or advisory notices
Key: Amends 79 Central Acts administered by 23 Ministries, covering 784 provisions — 717 decriminalised and the rest aimed at ease of living. It was introduced in the Lok Sabha on 27 March 2026 by the Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, passed by the Lok Sabha on 1 April and the Rajya Sabha on 2 April 2026.
The first decriminalisation statute of this kind, balancing the severity of an offence against the punishment prescribed
Key: Decriminalised 183 provisions across 42 Central Acts administered by 19 Ministries/Departments, provided for adjudicating officers and appellate authorities, and built in periodic increases in the quantum of fines and penalties.
One digital platform to identify and apply for every approval a business needs
Key: Created by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade following the Budget announcement of an Investment Clearance Cell, and soft-launched on 22 September 2021. It integrates approvals across 32 Central ministries and 34 States, listing over 686 central and 7,498 state approvals; over 8.29 lakh approvals had been granted as of November 2025.
Build a startup ecosystem and turn India into a nation of job creators rather than job seekers
Key: Launched on 16 January 2016 — the date now observed as National Startup Day. DPIIT-recognised startups rose from 502 in 2016 to over 2.47 lakh as on 12 August 2026.
Collapse company incorporation into a single web form and move registry services online end to end
Key: SPICe+ (2020) integrates 11 services from three Central ministries and departments covering name reservation, incorporation, DIN, PAN, TAN, EPFO and ESIC registration, Profession Tax registration, bank account opening and GSTIN allotment. MCA21 V3, the AI-driven registry platform for companies and LLPs, processed 3.84 crore filings between 2021 and 2025.
Drive ease of doing business reforms at the State and UT level and benchmark them
Key: Launched in 2015; covers single-window clearances, land, labour, inspections, taxation and environmental approvals across States and Union Territories.
Provide collateral-free institutional credit to non-corporate, non-farm micro enterprises
Key: Launched in 2015; collateral-free loans up to ₹20 lakh. As on 27 March 2026, ₹40.07 lakh crore had been sanctioned through 57.79 crore loans since inception.
Let micro and small enterprises borrow without collateral or third-party guarantee
Key: Supports credit facilities of up to ₹10 crore; cumulative approved coverage of ₹13.67 lakh crore across 1.41 crore guarantees as of March 2026.
Let MSMEs convert unpaid invoices into cash by discounting receivables with multiple financiers on an electronic platform
Key: Invoice discounting grew from ₹40,000 crore in 2021-22 to ₹3.47 lakh crore in 2025-26. Union Budget 2026-27 proposed a credit guarantee mechanism for invoice discounting and the platform's use for Central Public Sector Enterprise transactions.
Digitise public procurement and widen market access for suppliers
Key: Launched on 9 August 2016 by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. As on 6 August 2026 it connected more than 1.37 lakh government buyer organisations with nearly 25 lakh sellers and service providers, with cumulative procurement above ₹20 lakh crore and more than 75 lakh orders executed in 2025-26.
Integrate infrastructure planning across ministries and states on one geospatial platform for multimodal connectivity
Key: Launched on 13 October 2021 and built around seven engines — railways, roads, ports, waterways, airports, mass transport and logistics infrastructure. It brings together 58 Ministries/Departments and 36 States/UTs with 3,291 data layers; as of February 2026 the Network Planning Group had evaluated 352 projects worth ₹16.10 lakh crore.
Create an open, interoperable network for digital commerce so sellers are not locked into individual platforms
Key: Launched in April 2022; over 7.64 lakh sellers across 616-plus cities.
Improve export competitiveness, especially for MSMEs, first-time exporters and low-export-intensity regions
Key: The Export Promotion Mission (2025) brings financial and non-financial support under one framework. The Trade Connect e-Platform had crossed 20 lakh registered users with over 40 lakh Certificates of Origin issued as of August 2026.
Indian business law accumulated criminal penalties for procedural lapses — a late filing, a missing register entry, an incorrect label — because criminal liability was the easiest deterrent to legislate. The cost is disproportionate: a technical default exposes a promoter to prosecution, and prosecution clogs courts with matters that a penalty could settle. The Jan Vishwas approach removes the imprisonment clause, prescribes a penalty instead, and creates adjudicating officers and appellate authorities to impose and hear appeals against it — an administrative rather than judicial route. The obligation survives; only its enforcement mechanism changes. The 2023 Act applied this to 183 provisions in 42 Acts; the 2026 Act applies it to 717 provisions in 79 Acts. The related but separate exercise is compliance-burden reduction, where the requirement itself is simplified, digitised or removed — over 47,000 such changes as of November 2025.
Simple Analogy: Treating a late income tax return like a criminal offence rather than a fine-and-interest matter. Decriminalisation keeps the deadline and the consequence, but moves the consequence out of the criminal court.
| Aspect | Jan Vishwas Act, 2023 | Jan Vishwas Act, 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Provisions decriminalised | 183 | 717 |
| Total provisions covered | 183 | 784 (717 decriminalised, the rest for ease of living) |
| Central Acts amended | 42 | 79 |
| Ministries/Departments covered | 19 | 23 |
| Distinctive feature | Introduced adjudicating officers, appellate authorities and periodic increases in fines | Extends the model to more than four times as many provisions, replacing imprisonment with penalties, warnings or advisory notices |
Created and runs the National Single Window System; recognises startups under Startup India; drives the Business Reform Action Plan and the compliance-burden reduction exercise
Administers company incorporation through SPICe+ and the MCA21 V3 registry platform for companies and limited liability partnerships
National public procurement platform for goods and services, launched 9 August 2016 to make procurement more efficient, transparent and inclusive
Guarantees collateral-free credit to micro and small enterprises, supporting facilities of up to ₹10 crore
GST registrations rising from about 60 lakh in 2017 to over 1.68 crore in July 2026, Udyam MSME registrations and e-Shram enrolment all measure the same underlying shift from informal to formal, which is a standard GS3 theme.
Decriminalisation moves technical defaults out of criminal courts into adjudication by officers, which links this topic directly to alternative dispute resolution, the Mediation Act and the e-Courts project.
MUDRA, CGTMSE, the Credit Assessment Model and TReDS are four different answers to the same problem — MSMEs lack collateral and formal credit history; TReDS solves it by financing receivables rather than by guaranteeing loans.
PM GatiShakti and the National Logistics Policy target the same measured inefficiency; GatiShakti's 3,291 data layers are the planning input, not the outcome.
GS Paper 3 > Indian Economy: Government Policies and Interventions for Development
General Awareness > Government Schemes and Recent Legislation
General Awareness > MSME Credit, Priority Sector and Digital Platforms
Ease of doing business, MSME credit instruments and decriminalisation have appeared regularly in Prelims and in banking general awareness papers
Replacing imprisonment for a statutory default with a monetary penalty, warning or advisory notice, while keeping the underlying obligation.
Automated approval without manual intervention — 3.33 crore of MCA21 V3's 3.84 crore filings between 2021 and 2025 were cleared this way.
Trade Receivables Discounting System, an electronic platform where MSMEs discount unpaid invoices with multiple competing financiers.
The free, paperless, self-declaration based MSME registration system introduced in 2020.
A trade document certifying where goods were produced, needed to claim preferential tariffs; over 40 lakh had been issued through the Trade Connect e-Platform as of August 2026.