Government's reforms agenda in Parliament is in for trouble with its biggest ally Shiv Sena on Monday joining some Opposition parties in declaring resistance to a bill on raising FDI cap in insurance sector from 26 per cent 49 per cent.
Rejecting the demand for referring Insurance Bill to a Select Committee, the government on Thursday said the Congress was 'stonewalling' the key reform measure to deny credit to Prime Minister Narendra Modi before he goes to the United States.
'If Rakesh Sinha introduces the bill, but it does not pass the Rajya Sabha in six years, then the bill will lapse.'
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved amendment to the DICGC Act to provide account holders access to up to Rs 5 lakh funds within 90 days of a bank coming under moratorium to ensure timely support to depositors. Last year, the government raised insurance cover on deposit five-folds to Rs 5 lakh to provide support to depositors of ailing lenders like Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank. Following the collapse of PMC Bank, Yes Bank and Lakshmi Vilas Bank too came under stress, leading to restructuring by the regulator and the government.
Many other companies have expressed intent of diluting stakes.
The session started on January 29 and was originally slated to end on April 8 but several members had urged Speaker Om Birla to end the session earlier as they focus on electioneering for the five assemblies.
Opposition party is unlikely to block Bills for GST, insurance and e-auction of coal mines.
The government is making behind-the-scenes offers to other parties in a bid to break them but as long as the Congress is firm on the decision, there is little that the government can achieve on the Insurance Bill.
Delivering the key mote address at the Citi's Investor Summit, Jaitley hoped that as a professional organisation the Reserve Bank will take 'the best decision'.
The insurance sector is going to get a big boost.
After securing Congress support for a rise in the foreign investment cap in the insurance Bill, this is another key reform Bill where the Centre has managed a broad consensus.
A Group of Ministers (GoM) has cleared a bill to hike the FDI cap in insurance sector to 49 per cent from the current 26 per cent and it will be placed before the Cabinet now, Rajya Sabha was informed on Tuesday.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said that fugitive businessmen Vijaya Mallya, Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi are "coming back" to India" to face the law.
Gadkari said the bill's early passage in Lok Sabha was necessary so that it could be moved to the Rajya Sabha for passage during the ongoing session, which ends on Friday.
Both Houses of Parliament witnessed multiple adjournments on Monday as opposition MPs continued their protest over the Pegasus snooping row and other matters. Amid ruckus by the Opposition, the Rajya Sabha passed the Inland Vessels Bill-2021 while the Lok Sabha passed the General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Amendment Bill with voice-vote.
Bank, bankruptcy reforms, Nabard Bill amendment on agenda.
Amendments would be required in the Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1970 and the Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1980 for privatisation, sources said.
With just a day left for the budget session of Parliament to wind up, the government finally scored a goal when it passed the Judicial Commission and Constitution Amendement Bills in the Lok Sabha, hurriedly obtained the President's signature in a matter of hours and by late evening brought the Constitution amendment part of the Bill to the Rajya Sabha for consideration.
The 'angel tax' provision in the Finance Bill will not impact startups in India, a senior government official said on Tuesday. Startups which are registered with the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade do not come under the purview, Anurag Jain, the secretary in the department said while speaking at the IVCA Conclave. "Let me put one thing very clearly. It doesn't affect startups in the least," he said, addressing the audience at the event organized by the venture capital industry lobby grouping.
Advisors and agents known to you personally can also sell wrong policies.
LIC employees plan to observe a two-hour walk-out strike on August 4 to protest against the LIC (Amendment) Bill, 2009, introduced by the finance minister in the Lok Sabha on Friday, a senior office-bearer of an employees association said. The Bill says that the minimum capital of LIC would be increased from the present Rs 5-crore (Rs 50-million) to Rs 100-crore (Rs 1 billion).
With barely a week left, the session has been able to accomplish next to no legislative business, says Aditi Phadnis
The Budget session of Parliament concluded on Wednesday with passage of record official business in recent years but the government failed to ensure passage of the controversial Land Acquisition Bill as also key reform measure of GST amid stiff resistance from opposition.
Rajya Sabha will sit for late hours in last week of the first half of the budget session from Monday to clear the pending legislative and other businesses.
The Select Committee of Parliament on amending the Insurance Act to raise foreign investment cap has been given 2 more weeks till December 12 to submit its report, but not before Opposition parties raised questions over the procedure for seeking extension of the timeline.
The proposal for listing public general insurers had come up in 2007.
The Modi government's flagship initiative 'Make in India' launched 10 years ago has helped the country boost exports, push investments and promote manufacturing. Under the initiative, launched on September 25, 2014, a series of measures have been taken by the government to boost local manufacturing. These initiatives include the rollout of production linked incentive (PLI) schemes for 14 sectors, easing foreign direct investment (FDI) norms, reducing compliance burden to improve business climate, all approvals through single window, and rolling out of the national logistics policy.
LIC and GIC employees will go on strike on Tuesday to lodge their emphatic protest against the 'ill-advised' two Bills the Government of India introduced in Parliament on Monday. The office bearers of Insurance Employees' associations said the increase in FDI limit under external pressure results in increased access to private foreign capital over domestic savings, thereby weakening the public sector LIC of India.
Bharti will move FIPB soon for increasing Axa's stake to 49%
Opposition charged the government with making Parliamentary Standing Committees irrelevant.
With the Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill awaiting Parliamentary approval, Max India, Analjit Singh's flagship company, has started discussions on divesting 23 per cent out of its 74 per cent shareholding in Max New York Life Insurance to its foreign partner.
The insurance sector is seeking clarity on the 'Indian management control' clause.
Low margins and cash crunch have resulted in job cuts and a decline in the insurance industry. A policy roadblock is making it worse.
Expressing the government's commitment to continue with reforms, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday assured India Inc that it is ready to do everything required to revive and support economic growth hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. Stressing that there is a need to promote growth as it helps bring down poverty, she however said it would not be at the cost of inflation. RBI has been mandated to keep inflation at 4 per cent, with tolerance level of 2 per cent on either side.
Fresh plans of privatisation or divestment in central public sector enterprises and public sector banks might take a back seat this financial year because these may require a large consensus among coalition partners.
Section 45 in the new Bill says no claim can be repudiated after three years of the policy being in force, even if a fraud is detected, has sent life insurers into a tizzy.
The government has proposed to encourage setting up of stand-alone health insurance companies, which could provide cover even for routine OPD treatment in hospitals and nursing homes without getting admitted.
Applicants for Indian citizenship under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019 (CAA) can submit any of nine documents, including valid or expired passport, ID cards and land tenancy records, to prove he or she is a national of Afghanistan or Bangladesh or Pakistan.
The much-delayed insurance bill and the goods and services tax bill are among the 39 bills that are expected to come up during the month-long Winter Session of Parliament beginning next week.
