Shares of four companies that run insurance business rose by between 0.03% to 3.3% at 10:00 IST on BSE after the Lok Sabha yesterday, 4 March 2015, passed the Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2015.
Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex was down 4.12 points, or 0.01%, to 29,376.61.
Among insurance stocks, HDFC (up 1.08%), Bajaj Finserve (up 3.3%), Max India (up 1.36%), and Reliance Capital (up 0.03%), gained. ICICI Bank (down 0.66%), State Bank of India (down 0.03%), and Aditya Birla Nuvo (down 0.52%), declined.
The Lok Sabha yesterday, 4 March 2015, passed the Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2015, that proposes to raise the foreign investment cap to 49% from 26% in the insurance sector. The bill now faces its real test in the upper house of parliament viz. Rajya Sabha where the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is in a minority and is dependent on opposition parties to pass the legislation. The BJP-led NDA government has a commanding majority in the 543-member Lok Sabha with 334 seats, but is in a minority in the 245-seat Rajya Sabha, where it has just 57 members. The government had promulgated an ordinance last year for allowing higher foreign investment in the insurance sector after the opposition parties stalled the passage of the bill in Rajya Sabha.
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