Budget Session: Nirmala Sitharaman introduces Income Tax Bill in Lok Sabha
The new Income Tax Bill aims to bring in ease of compliance as it will help reduce compliance processes by streamlining paperwork, integrating digital platforms, and simplifying return filing mechanisms
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday (February 13) introduced the Income Tax Bill, 2025, in the Lok Sabha and urged Speaker Om Birla to refer it to a select committee of the House.
Opposition members opposed the Bill at the introduction stage but the House passed a motion by voice vote for its introduction.
While moving the Bill for introduction, Sitharaman pleaded Birla to refer the draft law to a select committee of the House, which will submit its report by the first day of the next session. She urged the speaker to take a call on the proposed panel's composition and rules.
The Income Tax Bill, 2025, aims to simplify tax laws, modernise definitions, and provide more clarity on various tax-related matters. It seeks to replace the existing Income Tax Act, 1961 and introduce changes that affect different categories of taxpayers, including individuals, businesses, and non-profit organisations.
One of the significant changes in the new bill is the introduction of simplified language and modern terminology. It replaces outdated terms and brings in new ones to align with today's economy.
Waqf Bill JPC report tabled amid uproar
Meanwhile, the report of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024, was tabled in the Rajya Sabha amid massive protests by the Opposition, forcing Chairperson Jagdeep Dhankhar to briefly adjourn proceedings.
As soon as the report on the Bill, which aims to streamline registration of Waqf properties, was tabled by Rajya Sabha MP Medha Kulkarni, Opposition MPs claimed that portions of dissent notes were removed and resorted to sloganeering.
The Centre, however, highlighted that the JPC chairman has the discretion to take down the portions that malign the committee.
The government sources said that only those parts of the dissent notes of the Opposition have been deleted that made “unparliamentary remarks" against JPC chairman and BJP MP Jagdambika Pal. “The dissent notes are part of the report,” sources said.
Lok Sabha adjourned till 2 pm
Earlier, Lok Sabha proceedings were adjourned till 2 pm amid protests by Opposition members over allocation of a project to a businessman in Gujarat.
As soon as the House met for the day, Opposition members, including those from the Congress, sought to raise the issue of the project allocation. A visibly-peeved Speaker Om Birla told the protesting members not to disrupt the proceedings and urged them to follow the tradition of the House.
He also asked the members whether they did not want the House to function, and as the protests continued, the proceedings were adjourned in less than five minutes till 2 pm.
The Congress on Wednesday (February 12) alleged that the Centre endangered national security to benefit private billionaires, over reports that border security rules were relaxed for a business group to set up an energy park.
Reacting to media reports that the government relaxed national security protocols along the Pakistan border to make way for a renewable energy park of the Adani Group in Gujarat, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge had said that the pseudo-nationalism face of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has once again been unmasked.
The Adani Group did not respond to the allegations.
Also read: Number of Indian prisoners in foreign jails is 10,152: Govt informs Parliament
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- 13 Feb 2025 11:30 AM GMT
Budget's goal is to propel growth, boost private investments: FM Sitharaman in RS
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said the goals of the Union Budget 2025-26 is to accelerate growth, secure inclusive development, and invigorate private sector investments.
Replying to a discussion on the general Budget in Rajya Sabha, the minister also said the Budget was prepared during a challenging time, with serious external challenges beyond estimates or forecasts.
Despite this, the government has tried to keep the assessment as accurate as possible, keeping India's interests paramount, Sitharaman said.
"There are no models that you can build and understand how the trends will be because they are very dynamic... Despite that, we have tried keeping the assessments as close as possible, keeping India's interests as topmost...This immense uncertainty is still playing out and many Indian imports which are very critical for our economy to grow are also going to be left with uncertainty," she said.
The minister also stressed that the Budget has not reduced sectoral allocations and the effective capital expenditure during the next fiscal is estimated at Rs 19.08 lakh crore.
Sitharaman told the House that the first advance estimates from National Statistics Office (NSO) has projected India's economy will grow by 6.4 per cent in real terms and 9.7 per cent in nominal terms.
So for the Budget, "we have kept our goals" such that we are able to accelerate growth, secure inclusive development, invigorate private sector investments, she said.
The minister also highlighted that the government steered the economy very well during the Covid crisis, and the country emerged as 5th largest major economy in the world.
She also recalled after the global financial crisis of 2008, India was termed as among the "fragile five" economies.
