3 weeks ago

India's Reform Test: Balancing Business Ease and Governance

India's Reform Test: Balancing Business Ease and Governance
Reform test: Getting the balance right · financialexpress.com

India has grown a lot over the past ten years, becoming one of the biggest and fastest-growing economies in the world.

The government made rules simpler so businesses could start and operate more easily.

India's business-friendliness ranking improved, and more foreign money came into the country.

Now the government wants to update company laws with a new Bill in 2026.

The Bill would reduce harsh punishments for small paperwork mistakes and make companies share more information.

But it also suggests that experts, such as auditors, should wait three years before taking certain roles again.

Some people worry this would waste good expertise and make things more expensive.

They point out that other big countries, like the UK, the US and Singapore, do not do this.

Instead, those countries manage conflicts of interest carefully without banning experts for years.

The big question is how to make rules strong but not too strict.

Key facts

Economy rank in 2014
11th-largest in the world
Ease of doing business rank in 2014
142
Ease of doing business rank within five years
63
FDI in 2013-14
About $36 billion
FDI in 2024-25
Over $81 billion
Proposed legislation
Corporate Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026
Proposed cooling-off period
Three years
International peers cited
UK, European Union, US, Australia, Singapore

Sources

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