The government will begin introducing 24 bills in the month-long monsoon session of Parliament on Monday, seeking to reform the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), Competition Act, mining regulations and the special economic zone system.

The Competition (Amendment) Bill seeks to change the governance structure of the Competition Commission of India by the timetable of legislative matters and to amend substantive provisions to meet the needs of the new age market.

The IBC (Amendment) Act seeks to introduce cross-border insolvency provisions and other changes necessary to address stressed assets while maximising their value in a time-bound manner.

Other important legislation includes the Mining and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act and the Development of Enterprise and Service Hubs (DESH), which aims to overhaul SEZs to professionalise these societies and protect the interests of depositors.

The amendments to the IBC aim to facilitate the more efficient rescue of businesses whose assets and liabilities are located in different countries, allow overseas lenders of Indian businesses to participate in court insolvency proceedings here, and enable domestic lenders to recover overseas assets of defaulters.

One government official said the idea was to quickly turn around struggling businesses and address concerns that a parliamentary panel pointed to spending cuts by some banks last year.

Amendments to the Competition Act aimed at scrutinising anti-competitive behaviour in the digital economy have sparked intense litigation and regulatory scrutiny in the sector, as traditional brick-and-mortar traders question the business practices of new-age companies, including deep discounting.

The four-week monsoon session will be filled with a busy legislative agenda when the government faces severe economic challenges, including high inflation and a depreciating rupee.

“The proposed amendments to the competition law are the first major amendments designed to make the competition framework work effectively. Suppose these provisions are debated at length in Parliament. In that case, the proposals will benefit from the Competition Law Review Committee’s 2019 report, which benefits all stakeholders,” said Pallavi Shroff, managing partner of Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas, also a member of the group.

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Amendments to the Mining and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act aim to attract more investment in the mining industry and help achieve multi-mineral self-reliance by increasing production in stages. One of the proposed changes is to remove lithium-containing minerals, a critical raw material for batteries, from the restricted list of atomic minerals.