``We are ready to help in any way if there is any role for us in the insurance business,'' Usha Rao Monari, regional manager, new investments, told UNI.

IFC is talking to a number of Indian and foreign companies and will ``invest as soon as something viable and concrete comes up'', she added.Asked how will a finance company like IFC squeeze itself into the 26 per cent upper limit on foreign equity, Monari said, ``the very presence of IFC in the joint venture will provide comfort to the foreign partner thereby catalysing the project.''

Many foreign insurance companies which would also bring in the latest technology are keen to give IFC equity participation, she asserted.Earlier last month, Rashad Kaldany, director, South and southeast Asia department, IFC, had told UNI that the corporation was likely to tie up with a maximum of three for life insurance and one or two companies for non-life business.

However, plans of the private funding arm of the World Bank will hinge on the investment cap finally decided by the government for foreign financial institutions. ``If the current proposed limit of 26 per cent for foreign investors is retained, it would be difficult for IFC to pick up equity in insurance companies'', he had said.

The multilateral agency which usually picks up to a maximum of 25 per cent in a private company would seek equity participation of between ten per cent to 20 per cent in the Indian insurance companies. ``We would invest to the extent that IFC has a nominee on the board to protect our interests in the company,'' Kaldany had added.

Now, Monari asserts that Kaldany's statement was not IFC's policy statement and said the multilateral agency's planned insurance foray remains in tact.Citing the confidentiality clause, Monari declined to describe the state of negotiations and refused to clarify how much of IFC's estimated $150 million investments set out for 1999-2000 would be earmarked for the insurance sector. She said no time frame had been set for investing in the insurance sector even though indications were that the IRA Bill was likely to be passed by March 2000. ``We are working as fast as possible''. The planned investments in insurance sector, Kaldany had said, would form part of the IFC strategy for India to exploit synergies among private infrastructure development and financial markets.