Three Bills and the Budget

The winter session of Parliament has made a significant impact on future budget-making

- RAISINA HILL AK BHATTACHARYA

Few winter sessions of the Indian Parliament have had as impactful an influence on the Union government’s finances as the one that concluded last week.

For good reasons, the fortnight-long winter session that ended on December 19 will also be remembered for the way the government brought in several legislative Bills at a very short notice and ignored the Opposition demand for referring them to parliamentary committees for deeper scrutiny.

But, quite apart from that, there has also been little discussion over the impact of three legislative Bills, introduced during the just-concluded winter session of Parliament, on Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s forthcoming Budget for 2026-27.

Let us begin with the Health Security Se National Security Cess Act, 2025. ‘The new law has levied a cess on the production of goods such as pan masala and any other goods that may be notified by the Union government.

‘There is a brief context to this move. On September 3, 2025, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council decided to rationalise the GST rate regime by reducing the prevailing four slabs (5 per cent, 12 per cent, 18 per cent and 28 per cent) to a simplified threerate structure — a merit rate of 5 per cent for essential and priority sector goods and services, a standard rate of 18 per cent for most items, and a demerit rate of 40 percent for a selected list of sin and luxury goods.