Parliament panel rejects govt proposal to hike FDI in insurance sector

14 Dec 2011 Evaluate

The parliamentary standing committee on finance, headed by former finance minister Yashwant Sinha has rejected all the important changes proposed in the Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill 2008, which also includes the key reform to allow 49% Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the sector.

The parliamentary panel also discarded the proposal to allow unregistered foreign entities to operate in Special Economic Zones (SEZs) on grounds that it will place domestic capital at risk of being taken out of the country and will be biased against Indian insurers. It also rejected the proposal of 49% FDI in sector on grounds that the alternate route for meeting the capital needs of the sector has not been seriously explored.

The standing committee on allowing foreign insurers in SEZs observed that it will not serve the rationale of developing a well regulated insurance market in India. The committee also said that foreign banks, which operate under the supervision of the RBI, are not allowed any special dispensation in SEZs.

The government’s proposal was also opposed by the insurance regulator - Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) and General Insurers Public Sector Association (GIPSA) on grounds that the foreign insurers would be at an advantage over their domestic counterparts in the matter of regulations.

The standing committee also rejected the proposal to halve the minimum paid up capital required to start exclusive health insurance business to Rs 50 crore. In its report, parliamentary panel said the amount may be inadequate as an insurance company needs to be fully equipped with modern infrastructure and other facilities.

The parliamentary panel has also pointed that stipulating the capital requirement of insurance businesses is a policy measure, which may have implications on the share-holding pattern of the insurer and hence needs to be considered by Parliament.

The parliamentary panel further rejected the proposal to empower the insurance companies to appoint agents and do away with the system of licensing of agents by the regulator IRDA. On this, panel said that the measure is 'inappropriate and fraught with the danger of leading to ineffective regulation of the profession, particularly in instances of unscrupulous act on the part of the agents as also insurance companies.'

In its report, the parliamentary panel said that for enabling proper regulation of health insurance sector, it expects the insurance regulator, IRDA, to play a pro-active role towards evolving a common procedure for availing cashless facility and standardizing the rates and charges for different hospital procedures, treatment guidelines, forms and formats for settlement of claims.

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