Govt lists 9 economic Bills for Winter Session including 100% FDI in insurance

The government has listed nine key economic Bills for the Winter Session of Parliament beginning Monday, including a proposal to raise the FDI (foreign direct investment) cap in the insurance sector to 100 per cent and new legislation to levy tax and cess on sin goods such as tobacco and pan masala.

According to the list circulated to Members of Parliament, the Winter Session—scheduled from 1 to 19 December—will also see the presentation of the first batch of Supplementary Demands for Grants for 2025–26.

At the top of the legislative agenda is The Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2025, aimed at pushing “new-generation financial reforms”. The amendment seeks to lift the FDI ceiling in insurance from the current 74 per cent, with the sector having attracted Rs 82,000 crore in FDI so far.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is also scheduled to introduce The Central Excise (Amendment) Bill, 2025, and The Health Security se National Security Cess Bill, 2025, both of which seek to replace the GST compensation cess on tobacco and pan masala with excise and cess levies.

The proposed Health Security se National Security Cess Bill aims to “augment the resources for meeting security expenditure on national security and for public health,” and will levy a cess on machines and other processes used in manufacturing specified goods such as pan masala.

Currently, tobacco and pan masala attract 28% GST, along with a variable compensation cess. The new framework is intended to streamline taxation and boost revenue generation.

Another major legislation listed is the Securities Markets Code Bill, 2025, which aims to consolidate and merge the following into a single unified statute to ease compliance and improve market efficiency:

• Securities and Exchange Board of India Act, 1992

• Depositories Act, 1996

• Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act, 1956

The Winter Session will also take up the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2025, which seeks to decriminalise several minor offences to improve the ease of doing business and ease of living. Introduced in August, it was reviewed by a Select Committee expected to table its report on the opening day of the session.

Other economy-related Bills on the agenda include:

• Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Bill, 2025

• Manipur Goods and Services Tax (Second Amendment) Bill, 2025

• National Highways (Amendment) Bill, 2025

• Corporate Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2025