# NITI Aayog report flags licensing hurdles in professional services sector 2026-08-25T23:56:29+00:00 | Governance | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 1 independent outlet NITI Aayog has released a report examining regulatory barriers in India's professional services sector, including legal, accounting and architecture. The report identifies overlapping licensing requirements, inconsistent state-level rules and slow digital approval processes as key hurdles for professionals and firms operating across states. It recommends a single-window clearance system for professional licences, mutual recognition of state-level certifications and time-bound digital approvals. The report is part of NITI Aayog's mandate under the National Logistics and Trade Facilitation Committee to reduce compliance costs and boost services exports. The government will now consider the recommendations for implementation. Industry bodies had earlier flagged that professional services face higher regulatory compliance costs than goods trade, with multiple registrations needed for interstate operations. ## Indian Opinion Analysis The report's review of professional services licensing is the first under the 2022 National Logistics and Trade Facilitation Committee mandate, which asks NITI Aayog to identify regulatory bottlenecks. India's professional services, legal, accounting, architecture, currently operate under state-level and council-specific rules that vary widely, raising compliance costs for firms. The International Trade Centre has estimated that services trade facilitation reforms could add up to 2 percentage points to India's annual services export growth. What matters now is whether state governments and professional councils will adopt the report's recommendations: the next NITI Aayog follow-up meeting, scheduled for September 2025, will assess progress on aligning licensing norms. ## Coverage - niti.gov.in Leads with the report's diagnostics, not with any government response or criticism This brief was synthesised by AI from the source linked above. Tags: NITI Aayog, Professional Services, services exports Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/niti-aayog-report-flags-licensing-hurdles-in-professional-services-sector/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/niti-aayog-report-flags-licensing-hurdles-in-professional-services-sector/#story-in-brief Review state: restored archive article, accurate at time of publication, not offered to search indexes. How this brief was made: an AI model read the report linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/