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Parliamentary affairs minister M Venkaiah Naidu on Sunday appealed to the Opposition and other parties to pass the 'Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2008, in the current Budget session itself. The Bill is slated to be tabled in the Rajya Sabha tomorrow.
"I appeal to all Opposition parties in the Parliament, particularly the Congress Party, to cooperate in passing the Bill that seeks to enable the much desired capital inflows into the insurance sector. Penetration of insurance coverage in the country is being adversely impacted on account of inadequate investments," he told mediapersons here.
When the present NDA government has proposed taking up the said Bill for consideration in the Rajya Sabha, former finance minister P Chidambaram welcomed the same and sincerely hoped that the Bill will be passed in the current Budget session of the Parliament, he said, adding that he agreed with the latter's comment that ‘government is a continuing entity and each government should build on what has been accomplished by previous government’.
The proposed Bill seeks to raise the foreign direct investment (FDI) cap in the sector to 49%, from the present 26.5%.
The amendments proposed to the pending legislation on insurance sector are based on the recommendations of the standing committee. The standing committee spent considerable time discussing the Bill before making their recommendations. If the Congress Party and other parties want detailed discussion in the Rajya Sabha on the contents of the proposed Bill, the government would be happy to go along with this suggestion, he said.
