PM Narendra Modi takes stock of progress in deregulation, reforms

3 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Jul 1, 2026 04:58 AM IST

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday held an interaction with all Central Secretaries on deregulation and other reforms which his government has been pushing for achieving ease-of-doing-business and ease-of-living, sources told The Indian Express.

It is learnt that the interaction began at 4.30 pm at Seva Teerth – the new executive enclave that houses the Prime Minister’s Office – and went on for nearly four hours.

According to sources, the interaction focused on two key themes – ‘Deregulation and other reforms for Ease of Doing Business and Ease of Living’ and ‘Promoting Atmanirbharta’ (self-reliance).

During the interaction, the secretaries outlined the major steps being taken by their ministries and departments in these two areas. The top bureaucrats highlighted ongoing efforts to translate the Prime Minister’s vision into actionable outcomes, while also discussing sector-specific challenges and outlining their future strategies to enhance governance and service delivery.

The Prime Minister is learnt to have highlighted the importance of adopting a whole-of-government approach and breaking departmental silos. He is also learnt to have asked the secretaries to focus on the tangible impact of schemes on the lives of people.

This was Modi’s second interaction with secretaries in less than two months. On May 21, the Prime Minister chaired a meeting of the Council of Ministers, which was attended by all secretaries at the Centre.

It is learnt that secretaries were given three minutes each to speak. They were said to have been asked to elaborate on what they have done and what they can do further for implementation of the deregulation and reforms agenda – for ensuring ease-of-doing-business and ease-of-living.

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The NDA government has been pushing deregulation and reforms both at the Centre as well as at the states. High-level committees have been entrusted to push deregulation and reforms. One of these committees is chaired by former Cabinet Secretary and NITI Aayog member Rajiv Gauba. The High-Level Committee on Non-Financial Regulatory Reforms (HLC-NFRR) under Gauba was constituted by the Cabinet Secretariat on August 19, 2025. It was mandated to review existing non-financial sector regulations, certifications, licences and permissions with the objective of developing a modern, flexible, people-friendly and trust-based regulatory framework suited to the needs of the 21st century. The Gauba committee has been sharing its recommendations with the concerned departments.

The second panel, Task Force on Compliance Reduction and Deregulation, is led by Bihar cadre IAS officer KK Pathak, who is currently posted as Special Secretary at the Cabinet Secretariat. This committee was also constituted last year. To push deregulation at the state level, the Cabinet Secretariat has also assigned some states to selected secretaries.