Deregulation to be a budget priority as growth cools
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. New Delhi: The central government is assessing regulations across sectors to identify the ones that can be relaxed in the upcoming budget and beyond to cut red tape and help revive growth in a slowing economy, according to three people familiar with internal deliberations. Preliminary discussions are underway to identify the sectors where regulatory easing could stimulate growth, the people said on the condition of anonymity as details have not been finalized yet.
One area that will get attention in the deregulation effort is the impact of existing rules and actions of regulatory bodies on the entities under their jurisdiction, according to one of the three people quoted earlier. If there are areas of over-regulation, it will be addressed, the person said. None of the people quoted above, however, mentioned sectors or specific regulations that are under review.
Queries emailed on Friday to the finance ministry, NITI Aayog, and the Prime Minister’s Office remained unanswered at the time of publishing. Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s budget proposals for the next fiscal 2025-26 —to be presented on 1 February —will be keenly watched as India’s urban consumption has slowed and the pace of growth cooled. GDP expanded 5.4%, its slowest pace in seven quarters, in the second quarter ended September, compared with 8.1% a year earlier and 6.7% in the three months prior.
Improving the ease of doing business by reducing compliance burden and fostering a more dynamic business environment is on the agenda, said the second person quoted earlier. “The issue of deregulation also came up during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent budget consultation with economists. We could expect budget
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