INDIA Trends and Developments Contributed by: Priyank Ladoia, Raghav Seth, Tanmay Sharma and Arjun Narang, AZB & Partners
India’s Decriminalisation Drive: Balancing Ease of Doing Business with Accountability in Emerging Domains India’s efforts to enhance ease of doing business have been gradually gaining momentum. A key objective in this regard is to streamline compliance require - ments and reduce the burden on the judicial system. To this end, India has prioritised the decriminalisation of minor or technical violations, aiming to alleviate the volume of criminal cases that clog the courts. Over the past five years, this drive has led to amendments across more than 200 provisions in over 50 statutes, replacing imprisonment with monetary penalties for minor offences. At the same time, Indian policymakers have comple - mented this decriminalisation initiative with targeted new offences in emerging digital ecosystems. This dual approach – reducing penal provisions for low- risk offences while maintaining strict accountability in high-risk, technology-driven sectors – reflects a delib - erate recalibration of India’s regulatory framework. In this article, the authors analyse the trends and impli - cations of India’s decriminalisation efforts alongside the regulation of emerging digital domains. Jan Vishwas 1.0: decriminalising minor offences In recent years, India has pursued the principle of “minimum government, maximum governance”. A critical step in enhancing ease of doing business has been the decriminalisation of minor, technical, or pro - cedural offences, particularly within the corporate and commercial regulatory spheres. Decriminalisation replaces the threat of imprisonment with monetary penalties, while the underlying conduct may still be subject to regulation. By removing minor infractions from the criminal justice system, decrimi - nalisation reduces court burdens, mitigates business risk, and improves investor confidence through faster administrative resolution. This step is significant in light of the substantial criminal caseload pending before all levels of courts in India: approximately 18,500 criminal cases in the Supreme Court, around 1,912,500 criminal cases in the High Courts, and over 35 million criminal cases in lower courts.
The Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Act, 2023 (“JV Act”) exemplifies this decriminalisation effort. It amended 183 provisions across 42 central laws. Key reforms included replacing imprisonment with mon - etary penalties for minor, technical or procedural offences, rationalising fines, enabling compounding, and strengthening adjudication mechanisms. Enforce - ment has thus become quicker and more predictable, without compromising core regulatory objectives such as consumer protection, public safety, and environ - mental standards. For example, under the Environ - ment (Protection) Act, 1986, any person operating in any industry or handling hazardous substances could be punished with imprisonment of up to five years if the emission or discharge of environmental pollutants was in excess of the prescribed standards. The JV Act decriminalised this violation and it is now punish - able with a monetary penalty of up to INR1.5 million (approximately USD17,000) per breach. The legislation reflects a broader shift towards trust- based governance. Streamlined compliance pro - cesses and dedicated adjudication mechanisms aim to reduce fear-driven, procedural bottlenecks. At the same time, deterrence is preserved through graded monetary penalties, periodic upward revisions, and retention of criminal sanctions for wilful, harmful, or egregious offences. The resulting regulatory ecosys - tem is more predictable and conducive to enterprise and innovation while maintaining accountability. Jan Vishwas 1.0 complements earlier reforms, includ - ing amendments to the Companies Act, 2013, and the Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2008, as well as the repeal of redundant or colonial-era laws. Collectively, these initiatives have significantly lowered regulatory friction and the cost of doing business in India. Jan Vishwas 2.0: broadening decriminalisation and simplifying compliance Building on the success of the JV Act, the Indian government introduced the Jan Vishwas (Amend - ment of Provisions) Bill, 2025 (JV2), in Parliament in September 2025. JV2 aims to extend decriminalisa - tion, streamline procedures, and make compliance technology-driven.
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