Fear to trust: India simplifies laws under Jan Vishwas Bill 2026 to boost business‑friendly environment

By Samira Vishwas On Apr 14, 2026

Under the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2026, India is overhauling its central‑laws compliance framework by decriminalising minor offences and shifting from punitive to trust‑based regulation. The legislation, which has been cleared by both Houses of Parliament and is now headed for the President’s assent, amends provisions across about‑80 central Acts administered by 23 ministries, with the government stating that 717 previously criminal‑punishable provisions are being converted into civil‑penalty‑based or administrative‑compliance mechanisms. The move follows the earlier Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Act, 2023, which had already decriminalised 183 provisions across 42 central laws.

The 2026 Bill targets “technical, procedural and minor lapses” in areas such as corporate compliance, metrology, customs, excise, environment, health, and trade‑related statutes, replacing prison terms or disproportionately harsh penalties with graded warning‑driven mechanisms, improvement notices, and monetary fines. For example, under the Legal Metrology Act, 2009, failure to maintain or produce required records by an importer, especially MSME‑scale operators, will no longer trigger immediate penal action; instead the entity receives an improvement notice to correct the gap. The framework aims to distinguish clearly between will‑full non‑compliance that remains subject to stricter enforcement and minor procedural errors that can be remedied without criminalising business‑day‑to‑day operations.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has framed the reforms as a core element of its “Ease of Doing Business” and “Ease of Living” agendas, noting that the 2026 version rationalises more than 1,000 offences and excises redundant or outdated penal clauses. The Bill’s architecture includes warnings for first‑time contraventions, graded escalation of fines based on severity, and standardised penalty structures so that penalties are proportionate to the nature and impact of the violation. Officials have emphasised that serious offences—such as large‑scale money‑laundering, tax‑fraud, or environmental‑damage‑related violations—continue to attract stronger sanctions, but the burden on exporters and MSMEs for minor compliance gaps is expected to fall sharply.

For MSMEs and exporters, the reforms are expected to translate into lower litigation risk, reduced regulatory fear of imprisonment, and faster resolution of inspection‑driven issues, which in turn supports supply‑chain predictability and smoother cross‑border trade. The government has already signalled that state‑level “Jan Vishwas”‑style initiatives, such as Delhi’s parallel bill, are being aligned with the central framework, creating a more uniform national‑level approach to minor‑offence decriminalisation.

Key highlights

Jan Vishwas Bill 2026 decriminalises 717 minor offences across 80 central laws.
Minor lapses now attract warnings and fines, not imprisonment.
MSMEs and exporters gain relief from criminal‑compliance fears.
Serious offences and will‑full violations still face strict penalties.
Reform is part of national “Ease of Doing Business” and “Ease of Living” push.