Insurance, tax and market reform bills on government’s agenda for Winter Session

The government will take up nine economic bills during the Winter Session of Parliament beginning Monday, including a proposal to raise the foreign direct investment limit in the insurance sector and two bills to levy tax and cess on tobacco and pan masala.

The Winter Session, scheduled from December 1-19, will also see the government present the first batch of Supplementary Demands for Grants for 2025-26.

According to the list of Bills circulated to members of Parliament, the government plans to introduce The Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2025, which proposes increasing the FDI limit in the insurance sector to 100 per cent from the current 74 per cent as part of new-generation financial reforms. The insurance sector has so far attracted Rs 82,000 crore through foreign direct investment.

Two other proposals — The Central Excise (Amendment) Bill, 2025, and The Health Security se National Security Cess Bill, 2025 — are listed for introduction by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Lok Sabha on Monday. These bills aim to levy excise duty on tobacco products by replacing the GST compensation cess.

The Health Security se National Security Cess Bill, 2025, will replace the compensation cess on pan masala. It seeks to “augment the resources for meeting security expenditure on national security and for public health, and levy a cess for the said purposes on the machines installed or other processes undertaken by which specified goods are manufactured or produced”.

Currently, GST at 28 per cent is levied on tobacco and pan masala, along with a variable compensation cess.

The Securities Markets Code Bill 2025 is also listed for introduction and proposes a unified securities market code for ease of doing business. It aims to merge the Securities and Exchange Board of India Act, 1992, the Depositories Act, 1996, and the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act, 1956, into a consolidated framework.

The Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill 2025, which seeks to decriminalise certain minor offences to support ease of living and business, will come up for discussion during the session. The Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha in August and referred to a Select Committee, which is expected to submit its report by the first day of the Winter Session.

Other economy-related bills scheduled for consideration include the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Bill, 2025, The Manipur Goods and Services Tax (Second Amendment) Bill, 2025, The National Highways (Amendment) Bill, 2025, and The Corporate Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2025.

(With inputs from agencies)