New Delhi, Feb. 7 -- The Union cabinet on Friday approved a bill to replace the more than six-decade-old Income Tax Act,1961 with a new, simpler and easy-to-understand law, as part of the government's regulatory reforms.

The Income Tax Bill is likely to be tabled in parliament shortly, and may be referred to a parliamentary committee for further discussions, according to two persons aware of the development.

The new Income Tax Bill is a key element of the regulatory reforms announced by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her budget speech on 1 February, which outlined the reforms meant to add momentum to India's economic development. There was, however, no official word on this decision.

The cabinet also decided to restructure the ...