New Delhi: The government is preparing to push a packed reform agenda through Parliament’s short winter session that will start 1 December, with 15 sittings scheduled to clear major legislations tied to crucial issues, including ease of doing business, regulatory consolidation, foreign investment, and sectoral reforms.
The session will see the introduction of 10 new bills and two others where parliamentary nod will be sought after taking into account report of the select committee, the Lok Sabha bulletin said.
Two crucial bills—the Jan Vishwas Amendment Bill and the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) Amendment Bill—are expected to return for approval after review by a select committee during the monsoon session. Both are aimed at simplifying compliance and decriminalizing minor business offences, while the IBC amendment proposes to overhaul India’s insolvency framework by addressing procedural delays, clarifying ambiguities, and introducing a creditor-initiated insolvency resolution process (CIIRP).
A major reform proposal on the list is the Insurance Amendment Bill, which includes provisions for composite licences for insurers and allowing 100% foreign direct investment in the insurance sector. The government will also introduce the Securities Markets Code Bill, which seeks to consolidate the Sebi Act, 1992, the Depositories Act, 1996, and the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act, 1956, into a single streamlined law, along with the Arbitration and Conciliation Bill and the Corporate Laws Amendment Bill.
Other bills on the agenda include the Atomic Energy Bill—which proposes to open the civil nuclear sector to private players—the Manipur Goods and Services Tax Amendment Bill, and the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2025 that seeks to bring Chandigarh under Article 240 in line with other union territories without legislatures, such as Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu and Puducherry.
This will be last session before the crucial budget session that typically starts on 31 January.
In this short session, the opposition is expected to flag a range of issues such as electoral process transparency, the economy, federalism, and the recently-notified labour codes. Also, the proposed Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, which aims to bring Chandigarh under Article 240, has drawn sharp criticism as an "assault on federalism" and an attempt to dilute Punjab's claim on the shared capital with Haryana.
