New Delhi: A Parliamentary panel, examining a bill on raising the FDI cap in insurance sector to 49 per cent, will table its report in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday along with dissent notes from around four non-NDA parties.
“The draft report on the Insurance Bill was adopted by the Select Committee today. We will table it in the Rajya Sabha on December 10,” panel chairman Chandan Mitra told PTI.
The members, he said, have been given time till tomorrow evening to submit their dissent notes, if any.
According to sources, four parties—Trinamool Congress, CPI-M, Samajwadi Party, JD(U) -- will be submitting their dissent notes as they are are opposed to raising the cap in insurance sector from 26 per cent.
The government is likely to move the bill for consideration of the Rajya Sabha next week.
Government sources expressed confidence that the bill would be passed, claiming that Congress is on board.
The bill was initially introduced by Congress-led UPA government in the Rajya Sabha.
However, sources in the opposition camp said the bill will face stiff resistance and Congress could finally oppose it in the House where the ruling NDA does not have majority.
The Select Committee, which was set up by the government to scrutinise the Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2008, today met under the chairmanship Mitra and adopted the draft report after discussions.
The 15-member panel was asked to submit its final report by December 12 to Rajya Sabha.
The Bill proposes to raise the composite foreign investment ceiling (including FDI, FII and NRI) from 26 per cent to 49 per cent.
The approval to hike the FDI limit from the current 26 per cent, a proposal which has been pending since 2008, is expected to attract long term capital, besides improving the overall investment climate.
There are about two dozen private sector insurance firms both in life and non-life segment.
Once the Insurance Bill is passed, the foreign investment ceiling in pension sector too would increase to 49 per cent.
