After allowing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in retail, the Union Cabinet Thursday gave its green signal to proposals of hiking FDI ratio from 26 percent to 49 percent to overseas investors in insurance sector.
The cabinet also cleared the way of foreign direct investment (FDI) to up to 26% in Pension sectors, means overseas investors after coming this bill in the effect will be able to invest in pension funds too.
The Union cabinet in the leadership of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday in a meeting also gave its nod for some crucial changes in the Companies Act in what is being called another major push to economic reforms in less than a month.
Till now, 26 per cent foreign direct investment was allowed in the insurance sector while the pensions business was closed to foreign investment.
All these proposals are yet to need parliament's approval before coming into effect.
The decision on these bills had been deferred because of opposition from Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress, which has since quit UPA after the government refused to roll back some of last month's decisions, notably the diesel price increase and FDI in multi-brand retail.
"Unless we go for 49 per cent, we will not have the kind of capital required to underpin the growth of insurance industry," Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda) Chairman J Hari Narayana said on the sidelines of a CII event in Delhi.
--With IANS Inputs--
|
|
Comments:
