CII calls for central law to ensure time-bound delivery of services to businesses

New Delhi: The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has urged the Centre to introduce a dedicated legislation to ensure time-bound delivery of services to businesses by Union ministries. The proposed law should include penalties for delays or deficiencies and provide a robust grievance redressal mechanism, the industry body said on Sunday.

CII believes such a legal framework would bolster regulatory certainty, improve predictability, and significantly enhance India’s ease of doing business environment.

“A key challenge remains the uncertainty on timelines for approval, which creates delays and cascading costs. Addressing this issue would strengthen confidence and support more timely and predictable service delivery,” CII stated.

Although several states have enacted their own Right to Services or Public Services Guarantee Acts for citizen-centric services, CII pointed out that no central legislation currently exists to extend similar safeguards to businesses dealing with Union ministries.

“Despite commendable initiatives to mandate timelines in a range of areas, businesses continue to face procedural delays, regulatory uncertainty and non-adherence to timelines, significantly affecting operational efficiency and long-term investment planning,” said Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, CII.

“Absence of strictly enforced timelines is also felt in areas such as government refunds, disbursement of funds and subsidies, and raising claims by government departments on returns filed by businesses, which often causes cash flow disruptions and adds to compliance burden and uncertainty,” he added.

CII has proposed a law that mandates time-bound, faceless service delivery with statutory backing. The legislation should allow for deemed approvals if deadlines are breached and require authorities to record and communicate reasons for rejections. It must also provide a strong, multi-tiered grievance redressal system including time-bound appeals, escalation pathways, digital complaint tracking, and compensatory provisions in cases of prolonged inaction.

To support this legal mandate, CII has recommended that all central regulatory services be delivered through the National Single Window System (NSWS), the digital platform launched in 2021 for central and state-level approvals.

While the NSWS was envisaged as a one-stop platform for business-related clearances, its integration remains incomplete. “Despite requiring numerous clearances, the Ministry of Labour and Employment currently offers only five approvals on the NSWS platform,” CII noted.

The industry body has called for NSWS to be granted statutory recognition and made the exclusive platform for processing and delivering all central government approvals.

“Providing statutory backing to NSWS will institutionalise its mandate, ensure universal adoption by central ministries, empower states to notify their rules for integration, and establish NSWS as the single digital interface through which services are applied for and delivered to businesses. This shall ensure that legally mandated timelines are met through a unified, accountable digital platform,” Banerjee stated.

CII believes the combination of legislative reform and digital integration can transform India’s regulatory framework. “If developed and implemented effectively, this combined legislative and digital reform has the potential to be a game-changer for India’s regulatory ecosystem,” the industry body said.

Banerjee further added that aligning legal mandates with a fully functional digital backbone would be critical as India pursues its India @100 vision. “As India aspires to become a global manufacturing and investment hub under its India @100 vision, aligning of legal mandates with a fully functional digital backbone will play a pivotal role in enhancing investor confidence and ensuring delivery-driven governance,” he said.