Insurance bill coming soon

Free from the clutches of the Left parties, Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday said the government would try to speed up reforms that could see passage of bills, including the insurance legislation.

"We will try to take the reform process forward... The insurance bill is one of many bills which is pending," he told reporters here after inaugurating the Sriram General Insurance scheme in Rajasthan.

He said the government, which won the trust vote in Parliament yesterday, would "reach out to other parties... try to build on the majority that we have demonstrated... and pass these bills."

The government scored a comfortable victory in the confidence vote by garnering the support of 275 lawmakers against the 271 needed to stay in power.

"I am confident that we can secure a comfortable majority for many of these bills if we talk to the other parties and that is what I intend to do," Chidambaram said, while adding that the insurance bill as a very important bill and it was necessary to find ways by which these bills can be taken forward.

The insurance bill would enable the government to raise FDI in insurance sector from 26 per cent to 49 per cent, he said.

The Left parties, which withdrew support to the UPA early this month over the civil nuclear deal with the US, were fiercely opposed to raising FDI cap in insurance sector as also allowing foreign investment in multi-brand retail.

"Yesterday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh wanted to make a point (on reforms) in his reply after the debate on trust vote, but he had to table it due to the uproar in Lok Sabha," the Finance Minister said.

Others bills that are due for passage relate to Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Labour, Women and Child Development, and Social Sector, he added.

Alluding to the hurdles to reforms put up by the Left, Chidambaram told Parliament yesterday that "there are some people in the country who do not want India to catch up with China...They do not want India to be ahead of China."