Deregulation Must Define India's Next-Generation Reforms: NITI Aayog's Rajiv Gauba

Deregulation should be the defining feature of India's next-generation reform architecture, NITI Aayog member Rajiv Gauba said at the Global Fintech Fest 2026, where he took part in a fireside chat titled "From Regulation to Transformation: Building India's Next-Generation Reform Architecture."

Reviewing the reforms of the past decade, Gauba said measures such as the Goods and Services Tax, the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code and a liberalised foreign investment regime had reshaped the economy and opened sectors once closed to private enterprise, including defence, space and now nuclear energy.

He said the next phase must focus on nuts-and-bolts reform and on dismantling the licence-approval-permission regime and its frequent renewal requirements, which persist in different forms. Laws, regulations and administrative processes need systematic review, he said, work being carried out by a High-Level Committee guided by the philosophy of Trust Based Governance espoused by the Prime Minister.

Noting that many important reforms fall within the domain of States and municipal governments, Gauba pointed to a Deregulation Task Force carrying the same principles down to the State and city level. He described the Centre's approach as "cooperative federalism with a competitive edge," citing the scheme for Special Assistance to States for Capital Investment and the Urban Challenge Fund, where incentives are tied to reform milestones and projects are chosen through challenge mode.

On fintech, Gauba highlighted the sector's rapid growth and its contribution to financial inclusion and access. He cited India's digital public infrastructure, from Aadhaar and UPI to DigiLocker and the account aggregator framework, as a replicable model in which the government lays open, secure and interoperable rails on which private enterprise builds and innovates.

Regulation in technology-driven sectors, he said, should strike a dynamic balance between protecting public interest and allowing innovation to flourish. Frameworks should be principles-based, technology-neutral and proportionate to risk, while promoting competition, ensuring non-discriminatory access to underlying infrastructure and improving information symmetry. He also stressed greater coordination among financial regulators, simpler and more predictable compliance, and continued efforts to reduce frictions and interoperability gaps.

Gauba noted steps taken to attract long-term domestic and foreign capital by strengthening investor confidence in fair treatment, predictable policy, data governance, cybersecurity and adequate space for innovation.

Concluding, he said reform must become an integral part of the culture of governance, backed by long-term and strategic thinking. He linked the effort to the Prime Minister's call for Viksit Bharat by 2047, describing it as a national enterprise in which government, industry and citizens each have a role in sustaining India's reform and growth momentum.