GoM spanner in insurance Bill

With less than a fortnight for Budget 2007, the group of ministers (GoM) which is vetting the comprehensive insurance Bill has met only once.

The Bill aims at increasing foreign direct investment (FDI) limit in the sector to 49 per cent. It has also proposed a number of other changes.

Even in the one meeting held on February 12, there was only a presentation by the finance ministry explaining the need to amend the insurance laws. The date for the next meeting is yet to be fixed.

It appears Finance Minister P Chidambaram will have to hasten the process if the Bill is to be taken up in the coming Budget session. Chidambaram had recently said the GoM would take "two to three sittings" to clear the Bill. The GoM is headed by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

The key changes the government hopes to bring in include raising the FDI limit to 49 per cent, increasing LIC's paid-up capital from Rs 5 crore to Rs 100 crore, transfer of insurance ombudsman's administrative control to the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) and empowering the authority to permit India-registered ships to get reinsurance cover from foreign firms.

All these require amendments in the Insurance Act 1938, LIC Act 1956, IRDA Act ,1999, and General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Act, 1972. To ease the process, the finance ministry has clubbed all these proposals into one Bill.