Now that it has been found the new foreign investment guidelines have created a problem for banks, the industry ministry has said it will come up with an amendment which will exempt banks from Press Note 2.
So, ICICI Bank will no longer be treated as a foreign entity and so its insurance joint venture will not be treated as a foreign venture either. Ditto for other bank insurance ventures. But even if this amendment is made, some other insurance firms that are Indian (but are not joint ventures of banks) will still be treated as ‘foreign’ — these include the Max joint venture as well as the HDFC one. Will the government keep issuing amendments each time there’s a problem? Why not come up with well-thought-out laws once and for all?
Sanjay Joshi, Mumbai
