The bill, scheduled to be tabled on Tuesday, is likely to be placed either on Thursday or Friday, finance ministry sources said. The tabling of the bill was postponed thrice over the last two years.

Sources said all the recommendations of the previous Standing Committee on Finance, headed by Murli Deora, will be included in the draft bill. One of the prime recommendations of the committee was to restrict the participation of the foreign insurance company to 26 per cent.

The bill, after becoming an Act, will vest the statutory power to the existing Insurance Regulatory Authority, currently headed by N Rangachary.

The Government is keen on introducing the IRA bill on Thursday or Friday so that the lower house of Parliament will be able to discuss the bill before the 10-day inaugural session comes to an end. The bill will be discussed threadbare during the winter session of Parliment during which the Lok Sabha is expected to pass the bill.

Before giving its stamp of approval, Lok Sabha speaker GM Balayougi may or may not refer the bill to the newly constitued Standing Committee of Finance.

The Rajya Sabha is expected to take up the bill for approval during the budget session.

However, the determination of finance minister Yashwant Sinha to see through the bill at the end of budget session may fizzle out considering the threat of non-cooperation from the Congress party over the Bofors issue, sources said.

"The overall stand taken by the Congress party as its response to the Bofors chargesheet involving former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi has once again raised the spectre of uncertainty about the final passage of the bill in Rajya Sabha," said an industry sources in Delhi.

In case the Congress does not support the bill in the Rajya Sabha, it will be returned to the Lok Sabha which has to approve it again for facilitating the President's accent. "Let us hope for the best," said the head of a foreign insurance firm.