Cabinet clears Odisha Jan Vishwas Bill 2.0 to ease business compliances

Bhubaneswar: The cabinet on Monday approved the Odisha Jan Vishwas Bill, 2026, marking the second and broader phase of the state's regulatory reform initiative aimed at reducing compliance burden and improving ease of doing business. Chief secretary Anu Garg said building on the Odisha Jan Vishwas Act, 2025, the proposed legislation goes beyond decriminalisation of minor offences to simplify licensing and permission requirements, eliminate overlapping approvals, extend the validity of industrial licences and registrations, and introduce intimation-based compliance mechanisms wherever feasible. The Bill proposes amendments to 62 provisions across 16 state Acts administered by 11 departments. The Bill is divided into two schedules. Schedule I proposes 35 amendments across 11 Acts to decriminalise and rationalise offences, while Schedule II contains 27 amendments across five Acts aimed at streamlining nine regulatory approvals, an official statement said. According to the govt, the decriminalisation measures focus on minor, technical and procedural violations. The proposed changes include replacing imprisonment and criminal penalties with proportionate monetary penalties, updating outdated provisions, and introducing simpler administrative and appellate mechanisms. The regulatory reforms seek to ease licensing requirements through longer validity periods, fewer renewals, intimation-based registration and no-objection certificate mechanisms, and removal of duplicate permissions. The Bill also proposes municipal and local body reforms to prevent duplication of licences issued by different departments where an equivalent clearance, such as a trade licence from urban local bodies, already exists. It also aims to simplify permissions for specified activities. Other measures include extending the validity of agricultural market licences, rationalising gram panchayat licensing requirements, and simplifying approvals for signboards, public-street works and certain temporary commercial activities. The govt said the reforms are expected to reduce compliance costs, litigation and procedural delays, improve regulatory certainty and administrative efficiency, and strengthen citizen and investor confidence. You Can Also Check: Gold Rate in Bhubaneswar | Silver Rate in Bhubaneswar | Bank Holidays in Bhubaneswar | Public Holidays in Bhubaneswar | Petrol Price in Bhubaneswar | Diesel Price in Bhubaneswar | CNG Price in Bhubaneswar | LPG Price in Bhubaneswar Stay updated with the latest Bhubaneswar news. Download the TOI App.