Parliament winter session’s economic agenda: 9 bills listed for discussion; insurance, sin-goods taxation and more in focus

Parliament’s winter session kicks off Monday

NEW DELHI: As the Winter Session of Parliament begins on Monday, the government is set to push a heavy economic agenda, lining up nine key bills ranging from insurance reforms to new taxation frameworks for sin goods such as tobacco and pan masala. The session will run from December 1 to 19 and will also take up the first batch of Supplementary Demands for Grants for 2025-26.A major item on the list is the Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2025, which seeks to raise the foreign direct investment cap in insurance from 74 per cent to 100 per cent. The move, positioned as part of a wider effort to modernise financial-sector regulation, comes at a time when the industry has already drawn Rs 82,000 crore in FDI.On Monday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will also introduce two significant tax-related proposals in the Lok Sabha — The Central Excise (Amendment) Bill, 2025 and The Health Security se National Security Cess Bill, 2025. Together, the bills aim to reshape how tobacco and pan masala are taxed. The measures would replace the GST compensation cess with an excise duty on tobacco products, while the new Health Security cess would be levied on machines or processes used to manufacture specified goods, with proceeds earmarked for national security and public health expenditure. Currently, tobacco and pan masala attract 28 per cent GST plus varying compensation cess rates.Another major reform on the agenda is the Securities Markets Code Bill, 2025, which proposes consolidating three separate laws governing India’s capital markets into a single unified code to streamline compliance and improve ease of doing business.The session is also expected to see progress on the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2025, now with a Select Committee, which aims to decriminalise a wide range of minor offences and reduce regulatory friction for companies.Other economic bills planned for consideration include amendments related to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, Manipur GST, National Highways administration, and corporate law updates — rounding out what is expected to be one of the more reform-heavy sessions in recent years.