Free to Build

The plan

1. One ID: the business PAN is the Business ID. No new ID is created. A business's own PAN (company, LLP, partnership firm, trust, society or cooperative) is its Business ID; a person's individual PAN is never used as one. A sole proprietor gets a separate business PAN free in minutes through instant e-PAN, linked to their personal PAN, so business and personal money stay apart. The business PAN is the only identifier for every central, state and municipal registration, return and inspection, replacing separate numbers such as GSTIN, TAN, CIN/LLPIN, Udyam, IEC, FSSAI and shop and establishment registrations (GST and other systems key on PAN, with a branch suffix where a firm has several sites). A firm with no PAN gets an instant e-PAN in 1 day.
2. No licence by default. No licence, permit or NOC is needed for any activity outside the critical list (No licence raj). A business self-registers on the Business ID and starts the same day. Critical-list licences, which include CPCB "Red category" industry, mining, hazardous chemicals, explosives and nuclear, are decided within 90 days with written reasons and are never deemed approved. Any other permission that still exists, such as a utility connection, is deemed approved if not decided within 30 days (building plans follow the 7-day rule in Chapter 9), and the Business ID portal issues a digitally signed, QR-verified certificate.
3. Self-certification with random audits. Firms certify their own compliance online. Each year 5% of firms are drawn at random by a published algorithm, plus up to 5% more chosen by red flags such as complaints and data mismatches. Paper checks are faceless (Chapter 13). A site visit, when needed, is by an inspector drawn at random from another district, lasts one day at most, is filmed on body camera, and the findings are uploaded before the inspector leaves. A false certificate costs 10 times the cost of complying and loss of self-certification for 3 years; the directors face prosecution if it causes death or serious injury (No licence raj).
4. Ready plots. Every ministry, PSU and state lists its vacant land within 30 days. Parcels with clear title are auctioned as ready plots with power, water, road access and pre-cleared zoning. State industrial development corporations do the site work at the national rate card and are paid after independent inspection (How the government buys). Encroached or disputed parcels go to the 90-day courts, with 180 days to clear encroachment.
5. Labour freedom with a better deal for workers.
   • No prior government approval to lay off workers at any firm size.
   • Severance doubles to 30 days' wages per year of service, with full credit for past service, plus 1 month's notice and a training voucher worth 15 days' wages, usable at any accredited course.
   • How the voucher value is set: 15 days of the worker's last wages, the same amount the Industrial Relations Code 2020 already asks employers to put into its Worker Re-skilling Fund for each retrenched worker. Tying it to wages means it grows with the worker's skill level. A floor of ₹10,000, about the cost of a typical 3-month certified course (estimate), applies to every worker so the lowest-paid can still buy a real course.
   • What a course costs: each certified course has a published price, set like every other government price (How the government buys). The provider is paid 70% at enrolment and 30% only when the trainee is in a job or earning more within 6 months, so money follows results.
   • Every wage is paid digitally to a bank or UPI account linked to the worker's PAN, by every employer: company, shop, farm, contractor, gig platform or household. Each payment carries the employer's Business ID, the worker's PAN, the work period and the gross amount. This builds a tamper-proof pay record. Provident fund, insurance and pension contributions are deducted and credited automatically from it.
   • Wages are due within 7 days of the end of each pay period, with 1.5% a month interest if late. A worker who says they were underpaid files a claim on the portal. The pay record, or any other evidence the worker brings, decides it, and payment is ordered within 30 days with a penalty of 2 times the unpaid amount.
   • A worker with no PAN gets one at the point of hiring. The employer's payroll or UPI app runs Aadhaar e-KYC (fingerprint, face or OTP), a free e-PAN is issued instantly and a bank account is opened on the spot (Chapter 2). The worker fills in no forms, and a feature phone works for UPI.
   • The 48-hour week stays, with overtime at 2 times pay. Women may work any shift with written consent, safe transport, CCTV and a complaints committee in place.
6. One 5% import duty. One rate of 5% on all goods, with no exemptions and no other duty above it. The 5% duty counts as a consumption tax under Chapter 1's three-tax rule, and the customs entry of the Union List (List I entry 83) is kept (Chapter 28). FTA partners already at 0% stay at 0%. Neither of these is an exemption or an extra tariff: a lower rate fixed in a trade treaty applies to every importer from that partner, and a trade-remedy duty (item 7) is a case-by-case penalty for proven dumping under WTO rules, never a standing tariff.
7. Fast, rule-based trade remedies. Customs data flags any import line whose volume rises more than 30% in a quarter at prices below the exporter's home price or a published cost benchmark. DGTR (the trade-remedies directorate) opens a case on its own within 7 days, imposes a provisional duty equal to the estimated dumping margin at day 60 (the earliest WTO rules allow) and issues the final finding within 6 months. The finding binds unless the Finance Ministry rejects it with published reasons within 30 days. Anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties equal the proven margin, last up to 5 years and are reviewed every year. Any firm can file a complaint online with no fee.
8. One quality bar for every import. Every product category has one published national quality and safety standard (building on today's BIS Quality Control Orders), and the same standard binds Indian makers. An imported good is sold only if its factory is certified by any accredited lab, in India or abroad, within 15 days, and its consignments pass random port tests (10%, rising to 50% after 2 failures), with results in 72 hours. A factory that fails 3 times is barred for 1 year. Every new standard gives 6 months' notice. Cross-border e-commerce parcels follow the same rule, and the platform is liable for anything sold below standard.
9. 90-day commercial courts. Commercial disputes above ₹3 lakh are decided in 90 days, with at most 3 adjournments (Chapter 6).
10. America as the benchmark to start and to close.
    • Start in one day. Incorporation on the Business ID completes within one working day, matching Delaware, where the corporations office offers filing within 1 hour, 2 hours, the same day or 24 hours for an express fee.
    • Close in 30 days. A firm with no outstanding debt, wages, severance or tax files one online closure form on the Business ID, with its directors declaring every due paid. The registrar closes it within 30 days, or it is deemed closed, and the closure is published. A director who signed a false declaration stays personally liable for the unpaid dues and loses self-certification for 3 years.
    • Insolvency as a fresh start. A firm that cannot pay follows Chapter 6's 180-day clock, with a going-concern sale first. Once the process ends, an honest founder carries no bar on starting a new firm, as under US bankruptcy law. Fraud found in the process carries the penalties of Chapter 13.
    • The gap, published. Each quarter the Business ID portal publishes India's median days to incorporate and to close, and insolvency time and recovery, beside the US benchmark: the World Bank's Doing Business 2020 measured US insolvency at 1.0 year with a recovery of 81.0 cents on the dollar, while IBC resolution takes about 603 days and creditors realise about 32% of admitted claims (₹3.99 lakh crore of ₹12.31 lakh crore, to September 2025). The two measures differ in method, so the comparison is a direction, not an exact match.

Cost and return

• Tech. NSWS is rebuilt on the Business ID with an open API and a countdown clock on every application. Any GovTech firm that passes the open spec and certification test can connect and sell to any state under the Aadhaar playbook, paid per verified delivery within 30 days.
• Jobs. Labour freedom plus ready plots aims at large factories in garments, electronics and footwear that employ 5,000 to 20,000 people each.

Timeline

First 30 days:

• The Business ID is notified as mandatory on every central portal.
• The deemed-approval rule is issued under central Acts, with a model rule sent to the states.
• The vacant-land inventory is published and the first 100 auctions announced.
• The Industrial Relations Code amendment (no layoff permission, 30 days' severance) and the Code on Wages amendment (PAN-linked digital wages) are introduced in Parliament.
• The 5% duty is announced in the Finance Bill, effective from day 1 of the next quarter.
• DGTR's automatic surge trigger goes live on customs data.

Within 1 year:

• All 36 states and UTs on the Business ID; 90% of remaining approvals decided within 30 days.
• 5% random audits and red-flag audits running.
• 500 ready plots auctioned.
• Both labour amendments passed and in force; PAN-linked wages live for every employer.
• 5% duty in force.
• One-day incorporation and the 30-day closure route live; the first quarterly comparison with the US benchmark published.
• Commercial court backlog falling 10% each quarter.

Guardrails

• Missed deadlines cost officials. Each approval that is deemed granted because an officer let the 30-day clock run out costs that officer a ₹5,000 personal fine, recorded in the annual rating. More than 10 such lapses in a year means removal from the post.
• Audit integrity. Exactly 5% of firms are drawn at random each year, with the selection code published. Each audit report is issued within 60 days. An auditor who demands a bribe faces the penalties of Chapter 13.
• Hazardous sectors. Critical-list licences are never deemed approved. A decision is due within 90 days, and every rejection gives written reasons.
• Severance first. Severance is paid before a layoff takes effect. In insolvency, full severance ranks with workmen's dues under IBC Section 53(1)(b), amended to cover it. Outside insolvency, directors who lay off without paying are personally liable.
• Night shifts. All 3 safety measures (transport, CCTV, complaints committee) are in place before a woman's night shift. A breach costs ₹5 lakh and loss of night-shift permission.
• Import surges. If imports of a product rise more than 30% in a quarter and a fast investigation finds serious injury, a provisional safeguard duty can apply for up to 200 days, followed by a quota or duty for at most 4 years under WTO rules.
• Quality suspensions by data only. A product line from any one source is suspended for 6 months only if more than 5% of its consignments fail tests in a quarter, measured and published.
• Closure protects those owed. The 30-day closure route is open only to a firm whose directors declare every debt, wage, severance and tax paid. Any creditor or worker can object online within the 30 days, which moves the firm to the insolvency process instead.
• Pay-record privacy. Pay records are seen only by the worker and the employer, by a lender with the worker's consent, or by a court with an order, on the privacy ledger (Chapter 4).

Sources: Jailed for Doing Business: 69,233 compliances (ORF) · Jan Vishwas Bill 2026 passed in Lok Sabha (The Statesman) · Jan Vishwas Bill 2026 (Asianet) · NSWS at five years (Lapaas Voice) · Labour Codes take effect (Al Jazeera) · Industrial Relations Code overview (Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan) · India tariff profile (WTO) · FY26 customs collection (Angel One) · FY26 imports $775 bn, crude $134.7 bn (NewsBytes) · India petroleum economy FY26 (EY) · 8.84 crore Udyam registrations (KNN) · TS-iPASS (IMPRI) · Chile flat 6% tariff (Global Trade Alert) · Danish labour market model (IZA World of Labor) · Delaware Division of Corporations: expedited filing options · World Bank Doing Business 2020: United States · IBC recovery and 603 days to September 2025, IBBI data (Business Standard)