The commerce and trade ministry is making modifications within the international direct funding (FDI) policy to facilitate disinvestment of the nation’s largest insurer LIC, after taking views from the finance ministry, a high authorities official mentioned on Thursday.
Anurag Jain, secretary within the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), mentioned the present policy associated to the sector won’t facilitate the disinvestment means of LIC and, therefore, wants to be revised.
“We are engaged on additional simplification of the FDI policy. An important level for additional simplification is required urgently as we’ve got to do the LIC disinvestment. So, we’d be coming out with a revised FDI policy which is able to facilitate LIC disinvestment,” he instructed reporters right here.
The matter is being mentioned with the Department of Financial Services and Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM).
“We have had two rounds of discussions at my stage and now, we’ve got (DPIIT, DFS and DIPAM) come on the identical web page. So, we’re within the means of drafting these modifications within the FDI policy. We will go to the Cabinet (for approval), ” he mentioned.
According to the present FDI policy, 74 per cent international funding is permitted underneath the automated route within the insurance coverage sector. However, these guidelines don’t apply to the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), which is run by means of a separate LIC Act.
As per Sebi guidelines, each FPI and FDI are permitted underneath public provide. However, sources mentioned that for the reason that LIC Act has no provision for international investments, there’s a want to align the proposed LIC IPO with Sebi norms relating to international investor participation.
The Cabinet had in July final 12 months accredited the preliminary public providing (IPO) of LIC and the stake sale is being deliberate within the present March quarter.
Further, speaking in regards to the long-pending e-commerce policy, the secretary mentioned the DPIIT is within the remaining levels of “giving touches” to the e-commerce policy and the nationwide retail commerce policy.
The e-commerce policy “is finalised at my stage and we’ve got circulated that to different departments. Now we may have a better stage dialogue… We may have discussions with departments on that after which we are going to finalise it…Plenty of work has been accomplished”, he mentioned.
He added that FDI is allowed in solely {the marketplace} mannequin and “I don’t see any change in view on that”.
When requested in regards to the oxygen availability because the variety of COVID-19 instances is rising within the nation, he mentioned the federal government is properly ready and “we will meet the demand of up to 19,000 metric tonnes”.
(Only the headline and film of this report might have been reworked by the Business Standard employees; the remainder of the content material is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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