 "Parliamentary panel gives recommendations on Insurance Bill")
New Delhi: Paving the way for long pending insurance bill to be placed in the Rajya Sabha, Parliamentary
Select Committee has given its recommendations on amendments to the Insurance Act that seek to raise FDI cap to 49 percent.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that he was hopeful that the insurance market expansion would take place once the
Insurance Amendment Bill is passed by Parliament.[caption id=“attachment_107151” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]
 Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. Image courtesy PIB[/caption]
Jaitely was speaking at a meeting with British insurer Standard Life’s chairman Gerry Grimstone and Kotak Group chief
Uday Kotak.
“The finance minister expressed his sense of satisfaction as the Parliamentary Select Committee has given its recommendations with regard to the Insurance Amendment Bill referred to it,” an official statement said.
It, however, did not spell out recommendations by the Committee headed by senior BJP leader Chandan Mitra.
There were speculations that the report may contain a few dissent notes by Opposition members in the Committee.
The term of the Committee, set up in August, was last month extended by two more weeks till 12 December to submit
its report.
The Bill proposes to raise the composite foreign investment ceiling (including FDI, FII and NRI) from 26 percent to 49 percent.
The approval to hike the FDI limit from the current 26 percent, a proposal which has been pending since 2008, is expected to attract long term capital, besides improving the overall investment climate.
There are about two dozen private sector insurance firms both in life and non-life segment.
Once the Insurance Bill is passed, the foreign investment ceiling in pension sector too would increase to 49 percent.
In the Rajya Sabha, the ruling NDA does not have majority and would require support from other parties for the passage
of the legislation.
PTI
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