India 2025 Year-End Economic Reforms Review: Ease of Living, Ease of Doing Business and Inclusive Growth

The Government of India released its 2025 year-end review of economic reforms on December 30, 2025, emphasising three overarching objectives: ease of living for citizens, ease of doing business for enterprises and inclusive growth across sectors and regions. The review highlights the transition from the phase of expanding regulatory frameworks to delivering measurable outcomes, with simplification and compliance-reduction as recurring themes. Direct taxation was a major reform area — under the new personal income tax regime introduced through Union Budget 2025-26, annual incomes up to 12 lakh rupees are exempt from income tax, with the effective exemption rising to 12.75 lakh rupees for salaried taxpayers after the standard deduction. This change is aimed at boosting disposable income in middle-class households. On labour reforms, the government operationalised the four Labour Codes — the Code on Wages 2019, the Industrial Relations Code 2020, the Code on Social Security 2020 and the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code 2020 — with effect from November 21, 2025, consolidating 29 existing labour laws into a modernised framework. The rural employment paradigm was transformed through the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission Gramin Act 2025, which replaces MGNREGA with a statutory framework that enhances livelihood security and integrates employment with community development. Indirect taxation was rationalised through Next Gen GST 2.0, which reorganised the rate structure into primarily two principal slabs of 5 per cent and 18 per cent, easing compliance for businesses while preserving revenue stability. Together, these reforms signal a shift toward outcome-based governance aligned with the Viksit Bharat 2047 vision.