{
  "id": 1011656,
  "title": "NITI Aayog proposes major regulatory changes for doctors, lawyers, accountants, engineers",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/15/niti-aayog-proposes-major-regulatory-changes-for-doctors-lawyers",
  "topic": "health",
  "section": "Health & Medicine",
  "published": "2026-08-15T10:15:13.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Indian Express",
    "slug": "the-indian-express",
    "url": "https://indianexpress.com/article/education/niti-aayog-fixing-regulation-service-sector-doctors-lawyers-engineering-nursing-licensure-next-gdp-icai-10834591/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog has proposed significant regulatory changes aimed at professionals in sectors such as law, accounting, architecture, engineering, and healthcare. These recommendations encompass professional licensing, qualification recognition, business structures, interstate license portability, and mutual recognition arrangements with other nations. Services constitute 55% of India's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the fiscal year 2024, with the nation ranking seventh globally in services exports, accounting for 4.3% of total service exports.\n\nThe report identifies gaps in various professional services, focusing on areas like professional recognition, market entry, licensing, permissible business structures, mobility, and regulatory overlaps. For legal services, the report examines the recognition of different legal professionals, treatment of foreign lawyers and law firms, restrictions on business structures, and advertising norms. In accounting and auditing, it addresses foreign professional restrictions, the roles of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) and National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA), and bookkeeping regulations. Similar issues are explored for architecture, engineering, healthcare, and allied healthcare services.\n\nRegulatory processes are recommended to be made more consistent, particularly in healthcare where multiple layers of overlapping regulations hinder interstate licensure mobility. The absence of a unified system for transferring licenses across states further complicates matters for foreign medical graduates. Engineering lacks a comprehensive statutory framework governing professional practice.\n\nThe report emphasizes professional mobility and qualification recognition, especially where India lacks mutual recognition agreements with other countries. Comparisons are drawn between India's framework and that of selected nations concerning market access, business structures, licensing, qualification recognition, and regulatory practices. Four priorities for the services sector are identified: continuous professional development, adopting best practices, elevating professional services within the services value chain, and advancing emerging trends.\n\nFor legal services, recommendations include broader statutory recognition of legal professionals, clearer regulations for foreign law firms, mutual recognition arrangements, revising advertising norms, and allowing multidisciplinary practices with safeguards. Accounting, auditing, and bookkeeping recommendations involve expanding mutual recognition agreements, strengthening regulatory oversight and skilling for foreign professionals, and creating phased accreditation pathways. Architecture proposes a licensing examination, streamlined registration, diverse legal structures, and mutual recognition agreements. Engineering suggests a central statutory framework for construction-related engineers with defined scopes of practice. Healthcare and allied healthcare services recommend timely implementation of the National Exit Test (NExT), regulatory clarity, interstate license portability, the full operationalization of the National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Professions Act (NCAHP), and mutual recognition arrangements.",
  "summary": null,
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}