News

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday, December 18, introduced the Securities Markets Code Bill, 2025 in the Lok Sabha and immediately sought to send it to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, signalling that the government does not want to rush through a major rewrite of India’s capital market laws.

After tabling the Bill, Sitharaman moved a motion asking the Speaker to refer it to the standing committee, saying the panel could submit its report by the first day of the next session. The move suggests the government wants detailed scrutiny and feedback before taking the legislation forward.

The Bill is one of the most significant changes proposed to securities regulation in recent years and is expected to impact stock markets, bond markets, intermediaries and investors alike.

The push for a unified securities code was first announced in the Union Budget of 2021–22. Since then, the government has maintained that India’s markets have expanded far beyond the regulatory structure created in the past.

Officials argue that multiple laws covering related market activities often create confusion for companies, intermediaries and investors. A single code, they say, would make compliance simpler, reduce duplication and bring more consistency in how rules are applied and enforced. From a regulatory point of view, it could also make supervision easier as market products and platforms become more complex.

A simplified legal framework is expected to support better governance, improve transparency and provide a more stable regulatory environment for investors and intermediaries. The proposed Securities Markets Code Bill aims to consolidate and simplify India's securities market laws.

The government has also linked the Bill to its long-standing goal of developing deeper bond markets. While India’s bond market has grown, liquidity remains uneven, especially in corporate bonds.