India Tables Securities Markets Code Bill 2025

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman introduced the Securities Markets Code Bill, 2025, in India's lower house of Parliament, the Lok Sabha, on December 18, seeking to consolidate three outdated laws governing the country's capital markets into a unified framework. The bill proposes to repeal and merge the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act of 1956, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Act of 1992, and the Depositories Act of 1996, aiming to modernize regulation amid the rapid growth of India's financial sector.

The legislation, tabled during the winter session of Parliament, was immediately referred to the Standing Committee on Finance for detailed examination, as proposed by Sitharaman. "I rise to move that the bill be referred to the parliamentary standing committee on finance," she stated in the Lok Sabha, adding that the panel would report back by the first day of the next session if approved by the Speaker. Government officials described the bill as a comprehensive overhaul, the first of its scale in decades, designed to enhance investor protection, streamline compliance, and support capital mobilization in line with the economy's expanding needs.