This monograph delves into the risk of imprisonment faced by employers in the country. It presents deep insights into the 26,134 imprisonment clauses present in the business regulatory ecosystem. The data is classified into seven categories labour, secretarial, environment, health and safety (EHS), industry-specific, finance and taxation, commercial, and general. It is then scrutinised to understand the extent to which these criminal provisions have been embedded into the regulatory framework and their impact. It takes a look at the data to understand how jail terms have been used as a tool for control.

India's business ecosystem is governed by 1,536 acts and rules, 69,233 compliances, and 6,618 filings. Of the 1,536 acts and rules, more than half (843) account for 26,134 compliances. {The Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Act, 2023 amended 183 provisions carrying imprisonment terms} that carry imprisonment provisions. While 2 out of every 5 obligations prescribe imprisonment, more than half of these provisions carry a sentence of at least 1 year. The monograph makes recommendations that can be utilised to institute structural changes in the regulatory framework and policy practices around designing the compliance ecosystem for enterprises.

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