Raipur, July 16 -- The Chhattisgarh legislative assembly on Thursday passed a bill aimed at reducing bureaucratic hurdles, lowering compliance costs and creating a more business-friendly environment for investors, particularly micro, small and medium enterprises.
Commerce and Industry Minister Lakhan Lal Dewangan introduced the Chhattisgarh Ease of Doing Business Bill, 2026, in the House, where it was passed with a partial amendment after a discussion.
Participating in the debate, senior BJP MLA and former minister Ajay Chandrakar described the legislation as a forward-looking measure that would prepare the state for future economic challenges.
He said the introduction of a comprehensive legislation reflected a proactive government that is ready to respond to changing global economic conditions.
Chandrakar said investment-driven employment generation would become increasingly important as the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) was expected to reduce jobs in both governments and private companies.
Referring to job cuts by global firms, he said Chhattisgarh needed to create an ecosystem that could generate employment through industrialisation, stabilise markets and ensure optimal utilisation of resources.
Describing the bill as a landmark reform, Chandrakar said scholars of public administration would study it as an example of how red tapism could be eliminated through legislative measures.
He also suggested that the government organise a large seminar after framing the rules to familiarise officials, legislators and industry stakeholders with the new system.
The BJP MLA said the bill provides for a high-level empowered committee to be chaired by the chief minister. He suggested making a minor change in the terminology without altering the objective of the provision.
Chandrakar said the designation of the Chief Secretary as the "Convener" of the committee should be replaced with either "Chief Executive Officer (CEO)" or "Secretary" of the committee.
The term "Convener" sounded more political than administrative, he said.
Congress MLA Daleshwar Sahu opposed the bill, and said the legislation should be introduced only after thorough deliberation and consultation.
He argued that the proposed law, which initially covers 43 categories of services, lacked adequate justification and would not simplify existing procedures.
Sahu said the executive council and executive committee proposed under the legislation had been assigned limited powers and were unlikely to bring any significant improvement in the current approval process. The Bill introduces deemed approvals, self-certification and risk-based inspections across 43 services, aiming to ease compliance and benefit over 15 lakh MSMEs
in Chhattisgarh.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.