| The proposal is being examined by the finance ministry in order to make these bonds more attractive. |
| "The petroleum ministry has been seeking Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR) status for oil bonds worth Rs 14,150 crore. While the finance ministry is not in favour of granting SLR status to the bonds, it is looking at other options to make them attractive. One such option is to allow pension funds to invest in oil and FCI bonds," a finance ministry official said. |
| Officials said pension funds could include such funds operated by insurance companies and even the pension component of the Employee Provident Fund (EPF). |
| "The EPF pension component will have to be specifically notified in order to subscribe to the oil and FCI bonds," the official said. |
| Earlier this year, the government had approved the issuance of Rs 14,150 crore of oil bonds to bridge the losses made by oil marketing companies on account of under-recoveries and Rs 16,200 crore of FCI bonds in lieu of the dues owed to it by the rural development ministry for foodgrain lifted for social sector schemes like the food-for-work programme. |
| Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had in Mumbai last week underscored the need to reform the financial sector further and promote a pension fund system. |
| "We need to reform our financial sector further if we are to have a larger debt market. We need to promote a widely held pension fund system," Singh said while inaugurating the new office of the Sebi last Friday. |
| "We need a much larger insurance sector with a higher capital base and more diverse products. These will generate the necessary long-term funds for investing in a debt market and make available resources for fulfilling the investment needs of our country, particularly in the vital infrastructure sector," Singh said while inaugurating the new office of the Securities and Exchange Board of India last Friday. |
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