Chidambaram happy with govt decision to push Insurance Bill

Says he is hopeful that the bill will be passed in this Session

Expressing satisfaction over the NDA government's decision to push the insurance bill, former Finance Minister P Chidambaram today said each government should build on the accomplishment of the previous one.

"The far-sighted policies of the UPA government have yielded, and will yield, good results. Government is a continuing entity. Each government should build on what has been accomplished by previous governments," he said in a statement.

Although the Insurance Bill to raise FDI cap in the sector to 49% from 26% was initiated by the UPA government in 2008, it could not be taken up because of opposition from different political parties.

The new NDA government proposes to take up the Insurance Bill for discussion in the Rajya Sabha on Monday. Once approved by Parliament, it would help insurance firms to get much needed capital from overseas partners.

Chidambaram further said: "A tortuous journey of two years has reached a crucial milestone and I sincerely hope that the Bill will be passed in this Session."

Recalling his meetings with the then Leaders of the Opposition (Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley) since August 2012, Chidambaram said even though the UPA government had agreed to their suggestions but "I was finally told in December 2013 that the BJP did not have the appetite to pass any more Bills during the remaining tenure of the UPA Government".

Referring to two other initiatives of the UPA government which have yielded results, Chidambaram said US-based Amazon has announced its plans to invest USD 2 billion in India and International Coal Venture Ltd (ICVL) has signed an agreement to acquire three coal mines in Mozambique.