No raising the FDI in insurance: Left

With Left parties sticking to their stand on foreign direct investment FDI, the stalemate over insurance reforms continues. The Left is against raising the FDI in the sector from 29 per cent to 49 per cent. The next meeting on the issue will take place when the current Parliament session reconvenes after the recess. A Group of Ministers headed by Pranab Mukherjee today met leaders of various Left parties on the issue. With the Left insisting that 8220;raising the FDI cap is a political issue that needs to be addressed politically first8221;, the meeting discussed certain technical issues related to solvency, the health insurance sector and the role of foreign insurance players.

Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Law Minister H R Bharadwaj, Labour Minister Oscar Fernandes and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia were also present at the meeting.

The Government argues that the FDI in insurance to the tune of Rs 5000 crore is needed for increasing the net and is seeking Left support on legislation in Parliament that will enable it to hike the FDI cap.

8220;There has been no change in our position on the issue. We are against the Government8217;s move to increase the FDI cap,8221; said a senior CPI member who was present at the meeting.

8220;We discussed the technical issues. But there is no change in our stand against raising the FDI cap,8221; said CPIM8217;s Tapan Sen. The RSP8217;s Abani Roy was present at the meeting too. The Forward Bloc stayed away.