The much-awaited reform of increasing foreign direct investment (FDI) in the insurance sector is set to come through with the Union Cabinet giving its go-ahead for the Insurance (Amendment) Bill, 2008. The Bill will make amendments in the Insurance Act, 1938. (more…)

Tags: FDI, FDI invesments, insurance, insurance companies, insurance online, SBI

The government will announce changes in foreign direct investment policy by the end of this month, focusing on sectors that generate maximum jobs, Union commerce and industry minister Kamal Nath said. “We are in the process of consultation between ministries, and I think in the course of this month the policy will be announced,” he said. Mr Nath had earlier said that government is looking at how foreign direct investment can be used in generating employment. This would be the driving force of all policies, he had said.
Regarding government policy on growth of big domestic companies in retail, Mr Nath had said this issue need to be considered by ministry of consumer affairs. Sources said the commerce ministry is awaiting a report from economic think-tank ICRIER on the implications of foreign direct investment on small and retail traders.
The country received $11.4 billion foreign direct investment in January-June 2007, a 218 per cent jump over the same period last year. For the first quarter of the financial year 2007-08, the inflows were $4.9 billion against $1.7 billion, showing an increase of 185 per cent. In another development, dismissing reports of a delay in the announcement of duty-free and quota-free package to least developed countries, Mr Nath said the matter will soon be taken up by the Cabinet for clearance.
“There is no delay. There is a consultation process going on in the ministry. It will go next week to the Cabinet,” Mr Nath said, adding that it could not be taken up by the Cabinet last week as he was not in the city. Arguing that the proposed package was “absolutely independent of World Trade Organisation talks,” he said India had very old ties with the African countries, which would be major beneficiaries of the package.
At the World Trade Organisation, he said, India was waiting for the United States proposals on agriculture for progress in the ongoing talks at Geneva. Under the proposed package for least developed countries, the government is likely to allow duty-free and quota-free import of a host of products from countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
The package, which has been in the works for many months and has periodically been reviewed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, was listed on the agenda for cabinet meeting last week but was later deferred. The package in its original form entailed zero duty import of a host of industrial products and lower duty import of farm goods.

Tags: FDI

Arcerlor-Mittal group steel tycoon L.N. Mittal has sought more land for its 12-million integrated steel project in Orissa. The company which had asked for 8,000 acres of land in the memorandum of understanding, has asked for an additional 750 acres, sources in the revenue department said.
“The state government has received a letter from the company seeking more land even after Arcelor-Mittal’s executives assured they would go by the MoU on land requirement,” a revenue official said. As per the MoU, the company requires 6,000 acres of land for the steel plant, 1,000 acres for its captive power plant and rest 1,000 acres for township and rehabilitation.
“We are prepared to provide 7,000 acres of land for the steel plant and captive power plant in the first phase and the remaining 1,000 acres for township and rehabilitation later,” the managing director of the state-owned Industrial Promotion and Investment Corporation of Orissa Limited Mr A.K. Meena said. He also said that IPICOL cannot take any decision regarding fresh demand for allotment of extra land.

Tags: FDI

Tata Sons Chairman Ratan Tata has said any failure of the Indo-US nuclear deal would be a “serious setback” for India and could impact inflow of foreign direct investments to the country.In an interview with Karan Thapar for Devil’s Advocate programme on television channel CNN-IBN, Tata said the civil nuclear deal with the US was in many ways the best possible thing that had happened to India in a long time.Asked would it be a setback if the deal didn’t materialise, he said: “I believe it is a serious setback to India. I believe the only people happy to see this not happening are probably Pakistan and China.” Apprehending implications on FDI inflows if the deal were to fail, Tata said: “I think it could because I think there would be repercussions and there would be reactions.” The industry doyen felt a need for the present political system to change and take a re-look at ideologies.On a question if the Left needed to reinvent itself, he declined a direct reply but said: “We all need to reinvent ourselves. Even the Vatican reinvents itself.” Hitting out at political parties for “opposing for the sake of opposing,” Tata said: “I really do wish we could go back to the days when we had stronger coalitions or single parties in government and a two-party system in the House where you really dealt with issues and serious ideologies.”

Tags: FDI, N-DEAL, TATA