Digital India, Why Still Runs On Paperwork ? - Demand for A Paperwork Reduction Act.
The Issue
ENACT A "PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT" FOR INDIA
— END THE PAPERWORK CRISIS, BUREAUCRACY, RELIEVE CITIZENS AND GROW ECONOMY.
THE PETITION:
Across India, millions of citizens routinely lose days, weeks, and sometimes months navigating documents and paperwork requirements. They are required to travel between government offices, banks, registrar, notary, housing cooperatives, brokers, Chartered Accountants, and Advocates, stand in queues, collect stamp papers, make photocopies, scan documents and obtain multiple certification, approvals, NOC's, signatures and repeatedly submit the same documents that are often already available within government databases or regulated institutional systems. This administrative burden of paperwork imposes significant costs in time, money, productivity, and opportunity on citizens, businesses, and the broader economy.
We, the undersigned Citizens of India, Non-Resident Indians (NRIs), Overseas Citizens of India (OCIs), and well-wishers of India's progress, call on the Government of India to enact a binding "Paperwork Reduction Act" — a legal framework that caps and standardises the paperwork process and number of documents citizens must submit across government-regulated processes, institutions, cooperatives and eliminates redundant verification, paperwork and mandates fully digital, single-submission procedures within a defined timeline.
India aspires to be a $10 trillion economy. It cannot get there while its own citizens spend weeks — sometimes months — collecting, notarizing, attesting, photocopying, and physically carrying stacks of paperwork just to open a bank account, make applications, sell an apartment / property, NOC documentation from various authorities, institutions, income tax related documents, cooperative housing society procedures, OTP’s, KYC’s, more and more.
THE COST OF EXCESSIVE PAPERWORK: WHAT INDIA IS LOSING
Tons of paperwork is not merely inconvenience. It is a measurable economic loss:
GDP contibution is lost annually to unproductive bureaucratic paperwork activity in India — for a $4 trillion economy, billions wasted every year in paperwork hours, associted waste activities, travel, lost productivity, delayed transactions, increased compliance expenses, and reduced investment participation those who do not like bureaucracy and paperwork.
India ranks 49th in bureaucratic efficiency globally per the IMD World Competitiveness Report 2023, while Singapore ranks 1st.
Ease of Doing Business rank 63rd (2023) - poor ranking!
India received ~ $135 billion in NRI remittances in FY 2024-25 — the highest of any nation in the world. Yet the same NRIs who send this capital face some of the most punishing paperwork and documentation requirements when they try to invest or buy/sell property, transact in India directly.
India has ~17 million NRIs — the world's largest diaspora. The lost investment and economic participation from paperwork-induced friction represents tens of billions of dollars in foregone GDP contribution.
Citizens and NRIs collectively spend an estimated hundreds of millions of person-hours annually on documents, paperwork processes — hours that could be spent on productive work, quality family time, excercise and value creation.
Excessive paperwork and demands for documents fuels corruption. At every stage where an officer has discretionary power over document acceptance, there is an opportunity for bribe. Simplification is also anti-corruption policy.
WHAT WE ARE DEMANDING
We call on the Government of India to take the following specific, measurable actions:
Demand 1: Enact a Paperwork Reduction Act a Standard Law
Parliament must pass a Paperwork Reduction Act (on the model of the US Paperwork Reduction Act, 1980) that:
Establishes a principle of "minimum necessary documents and paperwork reduction" for each category of regulated process by government or any institutions, cooperatives in India.
Requires every ministry, regulator, cooperatives and institutions to justify, in writing, why each document and paperwork it currently collects is necessary and cannot be replaced by data already held in government systems or any institutions in India.
Creates a "Minimum Documents and Paperwork Compliance Audit" mechanism with annual public reporting.
Demand 2: One Identity, One Submission — "Submit Once" Architecture
If a citizen's PAN is linked to their Aadhaar, and their Aadhaar is linked to their bank account, and their bank account is linked to their brokerage and their Tax or GST profile — the government already has every piece of identity and address information it needs. The same documents must never be submitted twice across different departments or institutions.
We demand:
A legally mandated Central KYC (CKYC) regime under which KYC completed once is valid for all regulated financial entities — banks, mutual funds, brokers, insurance companies, income tax, property sub-registrar, MIDC, cooperative housing societies or any institutions — without re-submission.
Full interoperability of all government-issued identity data (PAN, Aadhaar, Passport, Voter ID, Driving Licence, Electricity Bill Address) with a single citizen identity number (such as only Aadhaar number) usable across all regulated transactions.
Government, Financial institutions, income tax, sub-registrar, cooperatives or authorised institutions must pull verified data from CKYC/DigiLocker automatically, not ask citizens to re-submit.
Demand 3: Property Transaction Streamlining with minimum documents and paperwork
We demand a Single-Window Property Transaction Portal integrating encumbrance certificates, title searches, stamp duty payment, sub-registrar appointment, and mutation — accessible online.
The Lower Deduction Certificate (Form 128) process for NRI property sellers be automated with a mandatory 5-day processing with minimum documentation.
Reduce number of documents and paperwork: Several NOC from society, builder, MIDC, long list of documents and procedure.
Demand 4: Citizen Documentation Rights
Every citizen should have the right to:
- Submit a document only once.
- Use digitally verified documents in place of physical copies.
- Track application status online.
- Receive decisions within published timelines.
- Receive written justification when additional documents and paperwork are requested.
- Appeal unreasonable documents and paperwork demands.
Demand 5: Mandatory Review of All Documentation Requirements
Every government-mandated document requirement must be reviewed every 2 years with a public justification for its continuation. If a department or institution cannot demonstrate that a document requirement:
(a) prevents a measurable harm, AND
(b) cannot be replaced by data already available in government or institutions systems
...it must be eliminated.
Citizens and NRIs are not asking for less compliance. We are asking for smart compliance. We are asking for a system that uses the extraordinary digital infrastructure India has built — Aadhaar, DigiLocker, UPI, CKYC, DigiYatra — to actually reduce the bureaucracy and paperwork burden on its people, rather than layering digital collection tools on top of unchanged paperwork-era processes.
OUR CALL TO ACTION
Sign this petition if you have:
- Spent more than a week collecting documents, scanning and complete paperwork or other regulatory procedure.
- Been asked to submit the same PAN/Aadhaar/Passport/Electricity Bill/ID document to multiple times.
- Waited months to buy or sell property in India because of documents and paperwork delays.
- Spent weeks and months to receive a tax refund or TDS credit due to procedural complexity.
- Had to take leave from work, traveled — within India or abroad — to attend in-person document submissions.
- Paid a professional (lawyer, CA, consultant, broker) solely to navigate documents and paperwork.
- Felt that India's paperwork systems treat you as a suspect rather than a citizen.
India is the fastest-growing major economy in the world. It is home to the world's largest diaspora. It runs the world's largest democratic election. It has put a spacecraft on the moon. India can progress further with reduction of paperwork and documents benefiting all citizens, small businesses, entrepreneurs, senior citizens, property owners, and NRIs. We therefore call upon the Government of India to enact a Paperwork Reduction Act.
Sign. Share. Demand change!
4
The Issue
ENACT A "PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT" FOR INDIA
— END THE PAPERWORK CRISIS, BUREAUCRACY, RELIEVE CITIZENS AND GROW ECONOMY.
THE PETITION:
Across India, millions of citizens routinely lose days, weeks, and sometimes months navigating documents and paperwork requirements. They are required to travel between government offices, banks, registrar, notary, housing cooperatives, brokers, Chartered Accountants, and Advocates, stand in queues, collect stamp papers, make photocopies, scan documents and obtain multiple certification, approvals, NOC's, signatures and repeatedly submit the same documents that are often already available within government databases or regulated institutional systems. This administrative burden of paperwork imposes significant costs in time, money, productivity, and opportunity on citizens, businesses, and the broader economy.
We, the undersigned Citizens of India, Non-Resident Indians (NRIs), Overseas Citizens of India (OCIs), and well-wishers of India's progress, call on the Government of India to enact a binding "Paperwork Reduction Act" — a legal framework that caps and standardises the paperwork process and number of documents citizens must submit across government-regulated processes, institutions, cooperatives and eliminates redundant verification, paperwork and mandates fully digital, single-submission procedures within a defined timeline.
India aspires to be a $10 trillion economy. It cannot get there while its own citizens spend weeks — sometimes months — collecting, notarizing, attesting, photocopying, and physically carrying stacks of paperwork just to open a bank account, make applications, sell an apartment / property, NOC documentation from various authorities, institutions, income tax related documents, cooperative housing society procedures, OTP’s, KYC’s, more and more.
THE COST OF EXCESSIVE PAPERWORK: WHAT INDIA IS LOSING
Tons of paperwork is not merely inconvenience. It is a measurable economic loss:
GDP contibution is lost annually to unproductive bureaucratic paperwork activity in India — for a $4 trillion economy, billions wasted every year in paperwork hours, associted waste activities, travel, lost productivity, delayed transactions, increased compliance expenses, and reduced investment participation those who do not like bureaucracy and paperwork.
India ranks 49th in bureaucratic efficiency globally per the IMD World Competitiveness Report 2023, while Singapore ranks 1st.
Ease of Doing Business rank 63rd (2023) - poor ranking!
India received ~ $135 billion in NRI remittances in FY 2024-25 — the highest of any nation in the world. Yet the same NRIs who send this capital face some of the most punishing paperwork and documentation requirements when they try to invest or buy/sell property, transact in India directly.
India has ~17 million NRIs — the world's largest diaspora. The lost investment and economic participation from paperwork-induced friction represents tens of billions of dollars in foregone GDP contribution.
Citizens and NRIs collectively spend an estimated hundreds of millions of person-hours annually on documents, paperwork processes — hours that could be spent on productive work, quality family time, excercise and value creation.
Excessive paperwork and demands for documents fuels corruption. At every stage where an officer has discretionary power over document acceptance, there is an opportunity for bribe. Simplification is also anti-corruption policy.
WHAT WE ARE DEMANDING
We call on the Government of India to take the following specific, measurable actions:
Demand 1: Enact a Paperwork Reduction Act a Standard Law
Parliament must pass a Paperwork Reduction Act (on the model of the US Paperwork Reduction Act, 1980) that:
Establishes a principle of "minimum necessary documents and paperwork reduction" for each category of regulated process by government or any institutions, cooperatives in India.
Requires every ministry, regulator, cooperatives and institutions to justify, in writing, why each document and paperwork it currently collects is necessary and cannot be replaced by data already held in government systems or any institutions in India.
Creates a "Minimum Documents and Paperwork Compliance Audit" mechanism with annual public reporting.
Demand 2: One Identity, One Submission — "Submit Once" Architecture
If a citizen's PAN is linked to their Aadhaar, and their Aadhaar is linked to their bank account, and their bank account is linked to their brokerage and their Tax or GST profile — the government already has every piece of identity and address information it needs. The same documents must never be submitted twice across different departments or institutions.
We demand:
A legally mandated Central KYC (CKYC) regime under which KYC completed once is valid for all regulated financial entities — banks, mutual funds, brokers, insurance companies, income tax, property sub-registrar, MIDC, cooperative housing societies or any institutions — without re-submission.
Full interoperability of all government-issued identity data (PAN, Aadhaar, Passport, Voter ID, Driving Licence, Electricity Bill Address) with a single citizen identity number (such as only Aadhaar number) usable across all regulated transactions.
Government, Financial institutions, income tax, sub-registrar, cooperatives or authorised institutions must pull verified data from CKYC/DigiLocker automatically, not ask citizens to re-submit.
Demand 3: Property Transaction Streamlining with minimum documents and paperwork
We demand a Single-Window Property Transaction Portal integrating encumbrance certificates, title searches, stamp duty payment, sub-registrar appointment, and mutation — accessible online.
The Lower Deduction Certificate (Form 128) process for NRI property sellers be automated with a mandatory 5-day processing with minimum documentation.
Reduce number of documents and paperwork: Several NOC from society, builder, MIDC, long list of documents and procedure.
Demand 4: Citizen Documentation Rights
Every citizen should have the right to:
- Submit a document only once.
- Use digitally verified documents in place of physical copies.
- Track application status online.
- Receive decisions within published timelines.
- Receive written justification when additional documents and paperwork are requested.
- Appeal unreasonable documents and paperwork demands.
Demand 5: Mandatory Review of All Documentation Requirements
Every government-mandated document requirement must be reviewed every 2 years with a public justification for its continuation. If a department or institution cannot demonstrate that a document requirement:
(a) prevents a measurable harm, AND
(b) cannot be replaced by data already available in government or institutions systems
...it must be eliminated.
Citizens and NRIs are not asking for less compliance. We are asking for smart compliance. We are asking for a system that uses the extraordinary digital infrastructure India has built — Aadhaar, DigiLocker, UPI, CKYC, DigiYatra — to actually reduce the bureaucracy and paperwork burden on its people, rather than layering digital collection tools on top of unchanged paperwork-era processes.
OUR CALL TO ACTION
Sign this petition if you have:
- Spent more than a week collecting documents, scanning and complete paperwork or other regulatory procedure.
- Been asked to submit the same PAN/Aadhaar/Passport/Electricity Bill/ID document to multiple times.
- Waited months to buy or sell property in India because of documents and paperwork delays.
- Spent weeks and months to receive a tax refund or TDS credit due to procedural complexity.
- Had to take leave from work, traveled — within India or abroad — to attend in-person document submissions.
- Paid a professional (lawyer, CA, consultant, broker) solely to navigate documents and paperwork.
- Felt that India's paperwork systems treat you as a suspect rather than a citizen.
India is the fastest-growing major economy in the world. It is home to the world's largest diaspora. It runs the world's largest democratic election. It has put a spacecraft on the moon. India can progress further with reduction of paperwork and documents benefiting all citizens, small businesses, entrepreneurs, senior citizens, property owners, and NRIs. We therefore call upon the Government of India to enact a Paperwork Reduction Act.
Sign. Share. Demand change!
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Petition created on June 19, 2026