India: Small Business Central

In the overhaul of labor laws in India, regulations have been cut for companies with more than 100 employees. The consolidation of labor laws into four codes is estimated to have slashed the number of individual rules and also the number of forms to be filled out by enterprises.

Red tape was removed for employers who previously experienced a steep increase in bureaucracy when employing over 100 workers, causing them to forego expansions. The company size for which special notification requirements for hiring, firing, relocating and shutting down apply was increased to 300 employees in the hopes of fostering more company growth.

Data out of the country's Labour Bureau shows that India is home to a lot of small companies - even within formal employment. However, three quarters of companies even stay below 40 employees in the country, while only 14 percent have between 31 and 99 employees. Bigger companies are even more rare, at 4.5 percent employing between 100 and 199 people, 3.4 percent with 200 to 499 employees and just 2.1 percent where 500 or more people work. However, this still means that 45 percent of Indians work for these largest set of companies.

The largest Indian companies can be found in the sectors IT & business process outsourcing, where 48 percent of companies employ 100 or more people, showing a very mature sector of the Indian economy. This was followed by construction at 20.6 percent, transportation at 18.6 percent and manufacturing at 17.9 percent.