These penalty provisions cover a wide ambit of wrongful acts, including sales without invoices, issuing invoices without the supply of goods and services, collecting tax but failing to deposit to the government within three months, falsification of documents and obstructing officials in discharging their duties.Raising the monetary threshold for prosecution is part of policymakers’ efforts to improve the business climate at a time central and state governments are trying to attract fresh investments into the economy from domestic and global investors.

The department is working on a new bill for the promotion of industry and internal trade to decriminalize several laws in one go which will end harassment faced by businesses and reduce the compliance burden.