The Winter Session of Parliament was adjourned sine die on 19 December 2025 after 15 sittings spread over 19 calendar days. The session witnessed the passage of eight bills into law, making it one of the most legislatively productive winter sessions in recent parliamentary history. The Securities Markets Code 2025, though introduced during the session, was the sole major bill not enacted, having been referred to the Standing Committee on Finance for detailed examination.
Background
The Winter Session 2025 commenced on 1 December with 10 bills on the legislative agenda. The government maintained a focused legislative calendar, prioritising bills that had undergone prior stakeholder consultations and inter-ministerial processes. Both Houses of Parliament convened for a combined 67 hours across the 15 sittings, with relatively fewer disruptions compared to recent sessions, enabling sustained legislative business.
The session took place against the backdrop of significant policy reforms announced through the year, with many of the bills representing the statutory formalisation of previously articulated policy directions — including the liberalisation of insurance FDI, the modernisation of nuclear energy governance, and the restructuring of the rural employment guarantee programme.
Key Provisions
The eight Acts enacted during the Winter Session 2025 included:
Sabka Bima Sabki Raksha Act, 2025: Permits 100 per cent FDI in insurance companies and strengthens IRDAI enforcement powers.
SHANTI Act, 2025: Establishes a modern nuclear energy governance framework, repealing the Atomic Energy Act, 1962 and CLNDA 2010.
VB-GRAM-G Act, 2025: Replaces MGNREGA with an enhanced 125-day employment guarantee incorporating biometric authentication.
Health Security Cess Act, 2025: Introduces a dedicated cess for funding public health infrastructure.
Repealing and Amending Act, 2025: Removes obsolete enactments from the statute book.
Three additional sectoral amendments addressing specific regulatory requirements across various ministries.
The Securities Markets Code 2025 was introduced in Lok Sabha on 18 December but referred to the Standing Committee, reflecting the complexity of consolidating three separate securities statutes into a unified code.
Implications for Practitioners
The legislative output of the Winter Session 2025 requires practitioners across multiple domains to update their working knowledge of the statutory framework. The insurance, nuclear energy, securities, and rural employment sectors are each facing new primary legislation that either replaces or fundamentally amends existing law.
Practitioners should prioritise reviewing the transitional provisions in each Act, as these determine the applicability of new requirements to existing transactions, licences, and proceedings. Several of these Acts include transitional periods during which the old and new regimes operate simultaneously, creating potential for interpretive disputes.
The referral of the Securities Markets Code to the Standing Committee presents an opportunity for capital markets practitioners to influence the final legislative text through formal submissions. Given the significance of the proposed reforms, industry bodies and bar associations should consider filing comprehensive written representations during the committee's review process.
Law firms and in-house legal teams should plan compliance audits across the affected sectors during Q1 2026 to identify gaps between existing processes and new statutory requirements.