Rewind 2025: Major Acts Passed by Parliament This Year

The year 2025 marked a landmark phase in India’s legislative history, with Parliament passing several transformative laws across finance, taxation, digital regulation, social welfare, energy, sports governance, and minority affairs. These Acts aim to modernise institutions, improve transparency, strengthen regulation, and align governance with the vision of Viksit Bharat 2047. Below is a bill-wise recap of the most significant legislations enacted in 2025.

Here are the Important Acts of 2025

1. Insurance Amendment Act, 2025

(Sabka Bima Sabki Raksha Act)

• This Act introduces sweeping reforms in India’s insurance sector.
• It raises the FDI limit from 74% to 100%, allowing full foreign ownership.
• The law strengthens consumer rights, mandates accurate policyholder data, enhances privacy protection, and ensures transparency in claim rejections.
• It promotes digital insurance policies, lowers entry barriers for insurers, and empowers IRDAI with stricter penalties.
• The Act supports the goal of “Insurance for All by 2047.”

2. Finance Act, 2025

• The Finance Act, 2025 gives statutory backing to the Union Budget 2025-26.
• A key highlight is the abolition of the 6% digital tax on online advertisements, improving ease of doing business.
• It outlines total expenditure of ₹50.65 lakh crore, reduced fiscal deficit at 4.4% of GDP, and higher allocations for capital expenditure, defence, and employment.
• The Act completes the budgetary approval process after Parliamentary passage.

3. Income Tax Act, 2025

• Replacing the six-decade-old Income Tax Act, 1961, this law aims to simplify and modernize direct taxation.
• It uses clear language, removes obsolete provisions, reduces litigation, and lowers compliance burden—without increasing tax rates.
• Based on extensive public consultation, the Act enhances tax certainty for individuals and businesses.
• It is expected to improve voluntary compliance, transparency, and investor confidence in India’s tax system.

4. VB-G RAM G Act, 2025

(Viksit Bharat – Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission)

• This Act replaces MGNREGA, introducing a restructured rural employment framework.
• It guarantees 125 days of wage employment per rural household, higher than the earlier 100 days.
• The law focuses on sustainable livelihoods, asset creation, and convergence with development programmes.
• While the government calls it a modernisation aligned with Viksit Bharat 2047, critics express concerns over dilution of rights-based guarantees.

5. Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025

• This Act establishes India’s first national framework for online gaming regulation.
• It promotes e-sports and online social games while imposing a complete ban on online money gaming platforms.
• A central Online Gaming Authority will oversee regulation and sector development.
• The law introduces strict penalties for violations, addressing concerns related to addiction, financial harm, fraud, and misuse of gaming platforms.

6. Central Excise (Amendment) Act, 2025 & Health and National Security Cess Act, 2025

• These Acts replace the GST compensation cess on tobacco and pan masala, which is being phased out by 2026.
• A new excise duty and dedicated cess maintain high taxation on sin goods. Revenue will fund public health and national security and repay pandemic-era loans.
• The reform ensures fiscal continuity while discouraging harmful consumption through targeted taxation.

7. Electricity (Amendment) Act, 2025

• This Act modernizes India’s power sector by promoting competition in electricity distribution.
• It allows multiple distribution licensees in the same area, mandates cost-reflective tariffs, and reduces cross-subsidy burdens on industries.
• Subsidized tariffs for farmers and low-income households remain protected.
• The law strengthens regulatory commissions, encourages shared infrastructure, and supports clean-energy integration.

8. National Sports Governance Act, 2025

• A landmark reform in sports administration, this Act brings the BCCI under the RTI Act and recognises it as a National Sports Federation.
• It establishes a National Sports Board and Tribunal, mandates athlete and women representation, sets term limits, and ensures transparent elections.
• The law aligns Indian sports governance with international standards, supporting India’s Olympic ambitions and athlete welfare.

9. Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025

• These Acts reform the management of Waqf properties. The colonial-era Mussalman Wakf Act, 1923 is repealed, while the Waqf Act, 1995 is amended for better transparency, audits, digitisation, and governance.
• Provisions include inclusion of women and non-Muslims in boards, High Court appeals, and protection of women’s inheritance rights.
• The reform aims at efficiency but has sparked debate.

10. SHANTI Act, 2025

(Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India)

• The SHANTI Act strengthens India’s nuclear governance by granting statutory status to the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB).
• It enhances safety norms, recognizes Small Modular Reactors, expands nuclear liability to environmental damage, and allows limited private participation.
• The Act supports India’s clean-energy transition with a target of 100 GW nuclear capacity by 2047, while safeguarding safety and sovereignty.