INDIAN INSURERS BACK RISE IN FDI CAP

Indian insurers have given their backing to proposals to raise the cap on foreign direct investment in the country’s insurers at a meeting with government ministers. Although legislation to increase the cap was drafted in 2008, the previous government had failed to gain the required consensus, but hopes are high that the legislation will now be passed by the new government of Narendra Modi. According to the Times of India, the country’s leading insurers met with the secretary department of financial services GS Sandhu on Saturday, who was keen to hear the industry’s views on the cap. All companies except for one were in favour of raising the FDI cap, the newspaper reported. The change could see $8bn to $10bn of inflows into the life and non-life insurance business in the next five years, it added. "The purpose [of the meeting] was to discuss how to ensure growth in the sector which is an import social security. We discussed the pros and cons and various options and greater FDI flow in the sector," said Sandhu, adding that a final view was yet to be taken.