Select committee adopts draft report on insurance bill

The select committee looking into the insurance bill Monday adopted a draft report with a majority of members giving a nod to it.

According to sources, at least 11 out of the 15 members agreed to the report by the Chandan Mitra headed committee.

The report is likely to be tabled in the upper house later this week.

The bill provides for raising the existing 26 percent cap on foreign direct investment (FDI) in the sector to 49 percent. The committee, according to sources has said that it shall include all kinds of foreign investments.

Those who went against the report were Samajwadi Party, Communist Party of India-Marxist, Trinamool Congress and Janata Dal-United.

A JD-U leader told IANS his party representative staged a walkout from the meet and will be giving a note of dissent on the report.

The other three parties are also set to give a note of dissent, according to sources.

However, Congress appeared in favour of the bill, paving way for passage of the bill in the upper house where it does not have a majority.

Sources from the Congress said if government accepts their recommendations they will not oppose the bill, which was originally brought during Congress led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.

One of the demands from Congress is that FDI and FII are kept separate so that the foreign money does not breach the sectoral cap of 49 percent.