New Delhi, Dec. 22 -- Last week, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman introduced the Securities Markets Code Bill of 2025 in Parliament, aimed at building a new legislative scaffolding for India's securities markets.

The Bill, which has been sent to the parliamentary panel on finance for comments and inputs, proposes to merge and replace three laws: the Securities and Contracts (Regulation) Act of 1956 and those related to the market regulator, Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), and depositories. This was necessary to address multiple overlaps among those legacy acts of legislation.

The move is a follow-up of Sitharaman's 2021-22 budget promise to consolidate various Acts into a single rationalized code. Broadly, the Bill is ...