INSURANCE MEASURES PRESENTED TO INDIAN PARLIAMENT, BUT NO FDI MOVE

Indian finance minister Palaniappan Chidambaram today outlined a number of insurance measures as he presented his Union Budget to the Lok Sabha today. However, assurances from Mr Chidambaram to his UK counterpart Gordon Brown and to Lloyd’s chairman Lord Levene last month ( ID Asia , January 19) that a bill, proposing an increase in the foreign direct investment limit in Indian insurers would be introduced to the Indian parliament by the end of February, have come to naught, with no statement or bill being introduced. Mr Chidambaram has in the past few months variously promised that a bill would be introduced early in the current budget session, by the end of this month, or towards the end of the budget session. In his budget presentation, Mr Chidambaram said that the allocation of health insurance to weavers would be extended to ancillary industries and that the allocation would be increased to Rp3.21bn from the current Rp2.41bn. He noted that insurance companies would be launching a senior citizens scheme this financial year and that deductions in respect of medical insurance under Section 80 (D) would be increased to Rp15,000, or Rp20,000 for senior citizens.