Parliament Panel rejects govt’s suggestions on key changes in financial sector Bills

09 Dec 2011 Evaluate

The significant financial sector reforms are getting delayed despite the finance minister Pranab Mukherjee’s request to political parties to help government is passing legislations for the sector.

On December 8, the Parliament’s standing committee on finance rejected a clause in the Insurance Bill to raise Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) limit in private firms from current 26% to 49%. The change in the insurance law on FDI was introduced by Ex-Finance Minister Chidambaram in 2004-05, during the first 5-year term of UPA government.

The standing committee also rejected the clause of banking bill, which was tabled earlier this year to increase the limit on voting rights of single shareholder in public sector banks to 10% from existing 1% and in other banks from exiting 10% to a level proportionate to the stake. The banking bill which seeks to make it mandatory for any shareholder who acquires 5% or more stakes in a bank to get prior approval from the Reserve Bank of India. The Banking Bill also seeks to take away the power of scrutinizing mergers and acquisitions in the banking sector from the Competition Commission of India.

The standing committee also turned down the government’s suggestion to reduce the minimum paid-up capital in health insurance to Rs 50 crore from the present Rs 100 crore. The committee recommended retaining the current norms.

The government can brush aside these suggestions, provided it amasses crucial numbers of opposition parties to pass these bills. Earlier, the standing committee, on the pension reform bill, had rejected government’s desire to keep the FDI out of the purview of legislation.

These bills are vital from the policy reform point of view, as these sectors are expected to be the next growth drivers of Indian economy. However, these vital policy reforms have been getting delayed over political disagreement.

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