Finance Bill 2026 tabled in Lok Sabha; corporate laws amendment sent to JPC

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tabled the Finance Bill, 2026, in the Lok Sabha, providing legal backing to Budget proposals. The House also referred the Corporate Laws (Amendment) Bill to a Joint Parliamentary Committee amid Opposition concerns over CSR provisions.

New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tabled the Finance Bill, 2026, in the Lok Sabha on Monday, marking a key legislative step that will provide legal backing to the proposals announced in the Union Budget for 2026-27.

Once passed, the Finance Bill will bring into force changes in income tax rates, as well as customs and excise duties that were announced as part of the Budget proposals.

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The Finance Minister also introduced the Corporate Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026, in the Lok Sabha, and the lower house approved its reference to the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) for further scrutiny.

The Bill aims to amend the Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2008, and the Companies Act, 2013, to facilitate ease of doing business, decriminalise minor offences, replace certain criminal provisions with civil penalties and reduce compliance burdens for small firms, startups, and produce companies set up by farmers.

Earlier, the opposition members, including Congress member Manish Tewari, Trinamool Congress’s Sougata Ray, and the DMK’s Dr T. Sumathy, opposed the introduction of the bill.

They alleged that the proposed legislation dilutes the provisions of Corporate Social Responsibility. Responding to their concerns, the Finance Minister said that the proposed amendment will not only attract more investments but also facilitate corporate governance.

FM Sitharaman highlighted that this legislation has been brought after two years of full deliberation. She said the opinion of the representatives from industry chambers, professional institutes, legal and accounting experts and the public was taken and examined before introducing the Bill in the House.

The amendments in the laws are made on the basis of the Company Law Committee (CLC) constituted by the government to facilitate greater ease of doing business for business entities.

The 11-member CLC was constituted in September 2019. Its members included former Lok Sabha Secretary General T.K. Viswanathan, Kotak Mahindra Bank Managing Director Uday Kotak, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co Executive Chairman Shardul S. Shroff, chartered accountant G. Ramaswamy, and Xpro India Chairman Sidharth Birla. The CLC has submitted its last report to the government on March 21, 2022.

Recommendations of CLC were deliberated by various stakeholders and considered by the High-Level Committee on Non-Financial Regulatory Reforms (HLC-NFRR), chaired by former Cabinet Secretary and NITI Aayog member Rajiv Gauba.

In her 2025-26 budget speech, the Finance Minister had announced the constitution of the committee. “A High-Level Committee for Regulatory Reforms will be set up for a review of all non-financial sector regulations, certifications, licenses, and permissions,” she said on February 1 last year.

The second phase of the Budget Session reconvened on Monday at 11 a.m. after holidays on Thursday and Friday, due to the Ugadi and Eid celebrations, respectively. Parliament will sit on March 28 and March 29 to compensate for these holidays