Review silent on FDI caps

The mid-term review is silent on the Budget announcement of raising the foreign investment cap for the insurance and telecommunications sectors.

While the decision to raise the foreign direct investment ceiling in civil aviation has been listed in the progress report on select reform measures announced in the Budget, the government has not mentioned the status of the announcements regarding telecom and insurance.

The document, however, made a case for higher foreign investment in the telecom, insurance and pension sectors. The FDI limit in telecom is proposed to be increased from 49 per cent to 74 per cent.

The Left has opposed the government's proposal and Finance Minister P Chidambram has also consulted them. He recently said legal amendments to raise the foreign investment cap for insurance from 26 per cent to 49 per cent would be taken up next year.