Bright yellow coloration and enhanced NIR reflectance of monoclinic bismuth vanadate are obtained by the substitution of Ta/P into the vanadium sites of BiVO4. Pentavalent metal ion substitution in bismuth vanadate blue shifted the absorption edge leading to bright yellow coloration and the color properties are comparable to that of commercially used praseodymium yellow. Lattice distortion and reduced crystallite size imposed by pentavalent metal ion substitution are responsible for the special optical properties. The synthesized pigments with improved yellow coloration exhibits good NIR reflectance making them potential candidate for cool colorants to reduce the heat build-up. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.