Study flags 26,134 legal threats to entrepreneurship

More than half these clauses carry a sentence of at le­ast one year, says the report

As the government takes steps to improve the ease of doing business in the country, a new study has highlighted 26,134 legal perils in India’s business laws that entrepreneurs and corporations face.

Five states have more than 1,000 imprisonment clauses in their business laws: Gujarat (1,469), Pun­jab (1,273), Mahar­a­s­htra (1,210), Karna­t­aka (1,175), and Tamil Nadu (1,043), according to a study by Observer Research Foundation and TeamLease RegTech.

Of the 1,536 laws that govern doing business in India, more than half carry imprisonment clauses. And of the 69,233 compliances that businesses have to follow, 37.8 per cent carry imprisonment clauses.

“This regulatory cholesterol has