Press Trust Of India
New Delhi, Dec 26: Two ordinances to pave the way for a fresh dose of foreign investment in the insurance sector and to move ahead with the allocation of cancelled coal mines received Presidential approval Friday.
The government had decided to promulgate these ordinances to move ahead with reforms in the two sectors as the relevant bills could not be cleared during the just-concluded Parliament Session.
President Pranab Mukherjee has signed the two ordinances, Rashtrapati Bhavan press secretary Venu Rajamony said. The Cabinet had approved promulgation of the ordinance on the Insurance Bill and re-promulgation of the Coal Ordinance Wednesday, a day after the conclusion of the winter session of Parliament.
Finance minister Arun Jaitley had expressed the hope that hiking the foreign investment cap in the insurance sector to 49 per cent, which has been pending since 2008, will result in a capital inflow of $6-8billion. Earlier, this foreign investment limit had a cap of 26 per cent.