Opposition support bolsters prospects for insurance reforms

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Prime Minister Narendra Modi's efforts to reform the insurance sector received a boost on Wednesday after the opposition Congress party backed the measure in the Lok Sabha.

Congress voted with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Lok Sabha to pass a bill that seeks to increase the foreign investment limit in local insurers to 49 percent from 26 percent.

"It was our bill," said M. Veerappa Moily, a senior Congress leader. "So we supported it."

The party's support in the lower house has raised hopes that it would also back the bill in the Rajya Sabha, or the upper house, where Modi's BJP is dependent on it and other opposition parties to enact laws.

Modi needs both houses of parliament to pass the bill in the current session which ends in early May to prevent an executive order he issued in December to implement the insurance measure from lapsing.

A political row over religious conversions prevented lawmakers from voting on the long-delayed reform in December, forcing Modi to exercise his emergency powers and implement it through an ordinance.

"I hope the Congress will support it in (the) Rajya Sabha," Junior Finance Minister Jayant Sinha said after the vote. "If the bill is defeated in (the) Rajya Sabha, it does open an opportunity for a joint session (of parliament)."

The ruling alliance has a majority to pass any legislation in a joint sitting of the two houses.

(Reporting by Rajesh Kumar Singh and Nigam Prusty; Editing by Mike Collett-White)