The Hindu Business Line : Cabinet to decide soon on raising FDI cap in insurance

NEW DELHI: The Union Cabinet will soon take a decision on the insurance sector reforms which could possibly see hike in the foreign investment limit in private sector insurance companies from 26 per cent to 49 per cent.

“We will go to cabinet now”, said the Finance Minister Mr P Chidambaram without specifying the decision taken by the Group of Ministers (GoM) which met on Monday to take a view on the insurance sector reforms.

The government had set up a GoM under the External Affairs Minister Mr Pranab Mukherjee to decide on the insurance sector. Despite pressure from the private insurers, the government had failed to pursue the insurance sector reforms because of opposition from the Left Parties, which earlier supported the ruling UPA.

However, after the withdrawal of support by the Left Parties, the government took a conscious view to pursue the pending economic reforms including those in the insurance sector. Following opening of the insurance sector, over three dozen private compani es have started operations in the country, but many of them are constrained by the 26 per cent FDI and have been making a case for raising the FDI cap. - PTI

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