British cos waiting for Insurance Bill passage: London Mayor

British insurance companies are keenly waiting for the passage of the Insurance Bill, which will pave the way for increasing foreign direct investment into the insurance sector to 49 per cent from 26 per cent now, the Lord Mayor of London, Alan Yarrow, said here today.
"We are quite hopeful that the Insurance Bill will be passed by your Parliament during the ongoing Winter session itself. If it happened, then it will be important for us as the City of London is the world's leading centre for insurance. Once more FDI is allowed into the sector, then more England-based insurers may be interested in increasing their investment," Yarrow said.

He was speaking to reporters after inaugurating a new centre for the UK India Business Council, which already has offices in Gurgaon and Bangalore.
On new the government, he said he is positive about the Narendra Modi government as its taking every step to take the country's development to higher levels by improving the business environment.
"There is a fantastic appetite for British companies to come here. But they want a better legal system here," he said.
Inviting India Inc to invest in Britain, he said out of the 2 trillion pounds of overseas investments flowing into our country, the flow from India is very small and this can go up to the next level.

"Last year, England had announced 1 billion pound export credit guarantee to Indian companies and we want to continue to extend such facilities to them in future too," British Deputy High Commissioner in Mumbai Kumar Iyyer said.
The Indo-British trade stood at 17 billion pounds last year and it is growing at double digit per annum, Iyyer added.