FM: we will take reforms forward

Font Size

Print

Feedback

Email

Discuss

Save & Share Article

What’s this?

Digg	My Yahoo	Fark
del.icio.us	Newsvine	Reddit

Rate This Article

Rating:  0

Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday said the government would try to speed up key financial sector reforms, including insurance legislation, and would reach out to other parties to ensure smooth passage in Parliament for key legislation.

“We will try to take the reform process forward. The insurance Bill is one of many Bills, which is pending. I am confident that we can secure a comfortable majority for many of these Bills if we talk to the other parties, and that is what I intend to do,” Chidambaram said.

He added that given their importance, it was necessary to find ways by which these Bills could be taken forward.

The passage of the insurance Bill would enable companies in the sector to increase foreign investment to 49% from the present 26%. Other pending Bills seek to remove the 10% cap on the voting rights of foreign investors in non-state banks and open up the pension business to foreign direct investment—plans that were blocked by the UPA’s erstwhile partners the Left ever since the present government came to power in May 2004.

It is expected that financial sector reforms—covering pension, insurance, banking and the bond market—will spur investment and could add as much as 1.5% to India’s economic growth. India’s $912-billion economy has grown by an average of 8.9% in the past four years.