Jan Vishwas 3.0 in the works as govt moves to decriminalise minor business offences

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday said preparations are underway for the third edition of the Jan Vishwas bill, as the government moves to further decriminalise minor business offences and reduce the compliance burden on enterprises.

He said the ministry has already identified about 275–300 provisions across various laws that could be decriminalised under the proposed legislation.

“Preparations for Jan Vishwas Bill-3 are underway,” Goyal said while addressing a conference of domestic traders.

He urged the trading community to identify more provisions and suggest them to the ministry.

In 2023, Parliament enacted the first Jan Vishwas law, which decriminalised 183 provisions under 42 central Acts administered by 19 ministries and departments.

The existing law replaced criminal penalties with civil penalties and administrative actions for minor technical and procedural lapses, reducing legal uncertainties for individuals and businesses.

In August 2025, Goyal introduced the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2025, to deepen the government’s ease-of-doing-business reforms by removing criminal penalties for minor violations.

The Bill has been referred to a Select Committee of Parliament, which has been asked to submit its report by the first day of the upcoming session.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her Union Budget speech on February 1, 2025, had announced that the government would bring Jan Vishwas 2.0 to further streamline compliance.

“In the Jan Vishwas Act 2023, more than 180 legal provisions were decriminalised. Our government will now bring up the Jan Vishwas Bill 2.0 to decriminalise more than 100 provisions in various laws,” she had said.

The proposed law is expected to amend over 350 provisions across multiple statutes, expanding the scope of earlier reforms.

The new structure reportedly marks a shift from the “penalise on first detection” approach of the 2023 Jan Vishwas Act to an “inform–correct–penalise” model in Jan Vishwas 2.0.

Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2025, also proposes 67 amendments under the New Delhi Municipal Council Act, 1994 (NDMC Act) and the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, to facilitate Ease of Living.