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There is no proposal to hike foreign investment ceiling in the banking sector, the government said today.
The aggregate foreign investment (FDI, FII and NRI) cannot exceed 74% in private sector banks while the ceiling is at 20% for nationalised banks, State Bank of India and its associate banks.
"There is no proposal to hike the foreign investment ceiling in the banking sector ... No representation has been received in the recent past from the bankers or bank staff unions to hike FDI in banking sector," Minister of State for Finance Namo Narain Meena said in a written reply in Lok Sabha.
As regards the FDI limit in insurance sector, he said the government introduced the Insurance Laws Amendment Bill, 2008 in Parliament to increase it from 26% to 49%.
Replying to another question, Meena said the penetration of life insurance in India has increased from 2.15% in 2001 to 3.17% in 2013 which is above Brazil, Russia, Malaysia, Pakistan, China, Sri Lanka, Australia and Germany.
However, the penetration is below France, Switzerland, the UK, the US, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
Insurance coverage in a country is generally measured by insurance penetration, which is ratio of premium underwritten in a given year to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
To another query, Meena said Central Bureau of Investigation has registered 479 cases against 686 bank officials of public sector banks and others related to bank frauds between 2010 and April, 2013.
Also, departmental inquiries have been initiated against 26,584 bank employees.
