A day after returning from his two-nation visit to France and the United States, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said the Union government will constitute a deregulation commission to further reduce the role of the state in all spheres of governance and to promote ease of doing business. Taking a dig at previous governments, Modi said reforms under his administration are driven by “conviction” rather than “compulsion” earlier.
Speaking at ET Now Global Business Summit 2025, the Prime Minister said that over the past decade, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government has transformed the “fear of business” into “ease of doing business” through its policies. Listing out examples of reforms such as Goods and Services Tax (GST), Modi pointed out that the government has eliminated hundreds of compliances and is now further reducing compliances through Jan Vishwas 2.0 — a revised version of the Jan Vishwas Act, 2023 aimed at removing archaic provision hindering businesses’ growth.
“It is my conviction that there should be less interference of the government in the society. For this, the government is also going to constitute a deregulation commission,” he said, adding that the country will work at a new speed during his government’s ongoing third term.
The PM also thanked the people of Odisha, Maharashtra, Haryana and New Delhi — all four states voted the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies to power in the recent months — for showing immense support for the commitment to “Viskit Bharat” (developed India).
“Today, be it major nations or global platforms, the confidence in India is stronger than ever,” he said, noting that the sentiment was reflected in the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Summit in Paris as well. “Today, India is at the centre of the global future discussions and also leading in some as well.”
Talking about various reforms, the Prime Minister said it has been made in property rights by launching Svamitva Yojana, in which land surveys using drones have been completed in over 300,000 villages across the country and over 22.5 million people have received property cards.
“Due to this, the value of these properties to the tune of ₹100 lakh crore has been unlocked in rural areas…previous governments were aware of these intricacies but avoided such challenging tasks,” Modi said. “Today we hear that because of these cards, people are getting benefited…people in villages are getting credit access.”
The Prime Minister also criticised the previous Congress-led UPA government saying they were slow in undertaking reform measures. He added that after the BJP-led government came to power in 2014, “a new revolution of reforms started”.
“Congress speed of development and Congress speed of corruption, the country was watching…what would have happened if it had continued?” he said.
PM Modi also said that in India there is an ecosystem where people don’t want any conversation around “positive things”.
“They spend their energy in stopping such conversations, however, I believe that deliberations and discussion on positive things are equally important for a thriving democracy. There is a narrative that spreading such negativity is democratic. If positive discussions have happened, then democracy is said to be weak. We must come out of this mindset,” Modi said.
Due to reform measures in the last decade, the PM said, India became the fifth largest economy in the world. “I am saying this with full responsibility that India will become the third largest economy in the next few years,” he added.
Alleging that previous governments brought reforms, if any, only out of “compulsion”. “Today, India is doing this kind of reform out of conviction. There used to be no discussions at all earlier that a lot can be changed due to big reforms.”
Observing that even after independence remnants of the British era continued to be carried forward, Modi cited an instance where phrases like “justice delayed is justice denied” were heard for a long time, but no concrete steps were taken to address this issue. However, with the implementation of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), he said that in just 7-8 months, the changes are clearly visible now.
