Enterprise · Sub-pillar 5.1

Open and fair markets

The time, cost and complexity of starting, running and closing a business, including compliance and taxation, and markets that stay open to new entrants rather than concentrated in a few hands.

What is open and fair markets?

Open and fair markets is sub-pillar 5.1 of the 47 BH framework for a developed Bharat by 2047, the first of five sub-pillars under the Enterprise pillar. It asks how long it takes, and what it costs, to start, run and close a business in India, how heavy the burden of compliance and tax is, and whether markets stay open to new entrants rather than concentrating in a few hands.

Why it matters for 2047

Every job that is not in government is created by someone who decided to start or grow a business. The easier that decision is, the more of them there are. Rules that take months to satisfy, licences that depend on discretion and taxes that need an expert to file all raise the price of trying, and the price is paid most heavily by the small and the new.

Closing matters as much as opening. A country where a failed business cannot be wound up quickly traps capital, workers and founders in the wreckage. India's insolvency law was written to fix this, and how fast it actually works is one of the clearest tests of whether markets are open.

Fairness is the other half. Markets that let a few firms dominate, whether through scale, regulation or connections, charge customers more and shut newcomers out. A developed Bharat needs a competition regulator that acts in time and tariffs and rules that do not quietly protect incumbents.

Where India stands

  • 633 days

    was the average time taken to approve a resolution plan under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code for cases closed by 30 June 2026, against the 330-day outer limit written into the law; liquidations took 540 days on average. Creditors recovered 30.52% of their admitted claims.[1]

  • 47,000+

    compliance requirements were reduced by the Centre and states as of November 2025: 16,108 simplified, 22,287 digitised, 4,458 decriminalised and 4,270 removed. The Jan Vishwas Act 2023 decriminalised 183 provisions in 42 laws, and a 2025 Bill covers 355 more.[2]

  • 49

    cases were sent for investigation by the Competition Commission of India in the four financial years 2021-22 to 2024-25 (to 13 March 2025), with 11 final orders passed and 18 still under investigation; of 21 cartel cases referred in three years, one had reached a final order.[3]

  • 116th

    of 139 economies is where India ranks on its weighted average applied tariff rate in the Global Innovation Index 2025, and 107th on foreign direct investment inflows as a share of GDP; it ranks 65th on regulatory environment and 3rd on the scale of its domestic market.[4]

The direction of travel is clear. Compliances have been cut by the tens of thousands, minor offences decriminalised, approvals moved to a single national window that had cleared over 8 lakh applications, and the number of registered GST taxpayers has risen from about 60 lakh in 2017 to over 1.5 crore. [2] The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code has admitted more than 9,000 companies since 2016 and produced 1,484 resolution plans and 3,074 liquidations. [1]

The speed is not. Insolvency cases take almost twice the time the law allows, and creditors get back less than a third of what they are owed. [1] Competition enforcement is slow: most cases referred for investigation in the last four years were still open, and only one cartel case in three years had reached a final order. [3] Tariffs and foreign investment inflows are among India's weakest scores in the global innovation rankings, a sign that markets remain more protected than open. [4]

A note on the numbers: there is no longer an international ranking of the time and cost to start a business, since the World Bank discontinued its Doing Business report in 2021, so 47 BH relies on India's own regulators. The compliance count is the government's own tally and counts requirements, not their weight; insolvency times are averages for closed cases and say nothing about the cases still waiting; the Competition Commission figures come from a parliamentary reply as reported in the press.

On the 47 BH report card

Every 15 August, 47 BH reports how far India has come on each sub-pillar. For this sub-pillar, the headline indicators are:

  • Average time to resolution and liquidation under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, and recovery as a share of claims (IBBI).
  • Compliances reduced and provisions decriminalised (Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade).
  • Competition cases investigated and decided, and time to decision (Competition Commission of India).
  • Applied tariff rate, FDI inflows and regulatory environment ranks (Global Innovation Index, WIPO).

Two lenses on open and fair markets

City and village

47 BH asks whether a trader in a district town faces the same rules, and the same speed, as a company in a metro. Single-window approvals and online tax filing reach everywhere in principle; in practice, inspections, local licences and the distance to a tribunal still differ by place.

Learn, avoid, protect

Learn
What can India learn from countries that let a business be registered in a day and wound up in months, that publish every licence and its timeline, and whose competition authorities decide cases in a year or two rather than a decade?
Avoid
Which mistakes should it avoid, such as counting rules removed instead of time saved, letting insolvency become another slow court, or using tariffs and approvals to shelter a few large firms from competition?
Protect
What of its own should it protect, such as the goods and services tax that unified a national market, the public digital infrastructure for identity, payments and filing that small firms use for free, and the insolvency code's principle that creditors, not promoters, decide a failed firm's fate?

What this sub-pillar does not cover

Each topic has one home in the framework. These related topics sit elsewhere:

Questions about open and fair markets

How long does insolvency take in India?

For cases closed by 30 June 2026, an average of 633 days to approve a resolution plan and 540 days to liquidation, against a 330-day outer limit in the law. Creditors recovered 30.52% of admitted claims, or 166.58% of the liquidation value of the companies, according to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India. [1]

How much has the compliance burden been reduced?

More than 47,000 compliances had been reduced by the Centre and states as of November 2025: 16,108 simplified, 22,287 digitised, 4,458 decriminalised and 4,270 removed, according to the Press Information Bureau. The Jan Vishwas Act 2023 decriminalised 183 provisions in 42 laws. [2]

How active is India's competition regulator?

The Competition Commission of India sent 49 cases for investigation between 2021-22 and 13 March 2025 and passed 11 final orders, with 18 cases still under investigation; of 21 cartel cases referred in three years, one had reached a final order, according to a parliamentary reply. [3]

How open is India to trade and investment?

In the Global Innovation Index 2025, India ranked 116th of 139 economies on its weighted average applied tariff rate and 107th on FDI inflows as a share of GDP, while ranking 3rd on the scale of its domestic market. [4]

Why is this a development question?

Because the number of people who try to build something depends on the price of trying and the cost of failing. Markets that are quick to enter, fair to compete in and quick to exit create the jobs that a developed Bharat needs.

Sources

  1. Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India, "Quarterly Newsletter, April to June 2026" (data as of 30 June 2026). https://ibbi.gov.in/uploads/whatsnew/2a6b0d98890fdf684bb77baa10b131bc.pdf
  2. Press Information Bureau, "Ease of Doing Business: India's Ongoing Regulatory Transformation", backgrounder citing Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade data as of November 2025. https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2223909&reg=3&lang=1
  3. Ministry of Corporate Affairs, written reply in the Lok Sabha on Competition Commission of India investigations (data to 13 March 2025), as reported by Storyboard18, 25 March 2025. https://www.storyboard18.com/agency-news/corporate-affairs-ministry-cci-probes-49-cases-31-reports-filed-18-under-investigations-60057.htm
  4. World Intellectual Property Organization, "Global Innovation Index 2025: India" economy profile, September 2025. https://www.wipo.int/edocs/gii-ranking/2025/in.pdf

47 BH cites every figure so that it can be checked. If you find an error, it will be corrected openly and the date below will change.

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