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Saving Lives and Livelihoods Amidst a Once-in-a-Century Crisis 37

Corporates • Including the provisions of Part IXA (Producer Companies) of Companies Act,
1956 in Companies Act, 2013
• Decriminalization of Companies Act defaults involving minor technical and
procedural defaults
• Power to create additional/ specialized benches for NCLAT
• Lower penalties for all defaults for Small Companies, One-person Companies,
Producer Companies & Start Ups
• Simplified Proforma for Incorporating Company Electronically Plus (SPICe +)
introduced
Administration • National platform for recruitment: National Recruitment Agency to conduct a
Common Eligibility Test
• Revised guidelines on Compulsory retirement to remove ineffective or corrupt
officials through Fundamental Rule 56(j)/(l) and Rule 48 of CCS (Pension) Rule
• Faceless tax assessment and a 12-point taxpayers charter
• Fast track Investment Clearance through Empowered Group of Secretaries
Source: Compiled from various sources. The list presents the major structural reforms.

1.53 Major structural reforms launched by the Government – in agriculture markets, labour
laws and definition of MSMEs – provide unparalleled opportunity to grow and prosper now
and thereby contribute to job creation in the primary and secondary sectors. The modified
definition of MSMEs facilitates expansion and growth of these enterprises without them
fearing the loss of government incentives, thereby avoiding the phenomenon of dwarfs among
MSMEs. The resulting economies of scale can enhance productivity without the MSMEs
losing out on several government incentives including interest subvention, collateral-free
loans, market support, export promotion, preferential procurement in the public sector and
enabling of IT ecosystems.
1.54 The historic labour reforms – discussed for three decades after the conditionality in
the 1991 loan from IMF but never implemented thus far – will benefit MSMEs to increase
employment, enhance labour productivity and thereby wages in MSMEs. The use of full-
time equivalents provides flexibility to MSMEs to tailor their labour strength to market
conditions and thereby enhance employment. The increase in the size thresholds from 10
to 20 employees to be called a factory, 20 to 50 for contract worker laws to apply, and
100 to 300 for standing orders enable economies of scale and unleash growth. The drastic
reductions in compliance stem from (i) 41 central labour laws being reduced to four, (ii)
the number of sections falling by 60 per cent from about 1200 to 480, (iii) the maze due to
the number of minimum wages being reducing from about 2000 to 40, (iv) one registration
instead of six, (v) one license instead of four, and (vi) de-criminalisation of several offences.
These reforms balance the interest of both workers and employers. These codes provide
social security, protection, safe and working environment and effective conciliation dispute
mechanism to workers.
1.55 The reforms in the agricultural sector were more overdue than even the labour reforms
as the existing laws kept the Indian farmer enslaved to the local Mandi and their rent-seeking
intermediaries. While every other category of producer in India had the freedom to decide