The Union Cabinet on Thursday cleared the Insurance Bill while accepting the standing committee’s recommendation on retaining the 26 per cent FDI cap. The bill also paves the way for reinsurance companies to set up Indian branches. This will help large players like Lloyd’s.
Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters later that consideration of the item on retaining the FDI cap “has been postponed” as 26 per cent FDI is already permitted.
Sources said the bill specified if any domestic reinsurance company wanted to participate in the market it should have a minimum paid-up capital of `200 crores, while in case of a foreign company this would be `5,000 crores.
The bill mandates any single stakeholder in domestic life insurance companies should not own over 26 per cent within 10 years of operations.
The minimum capital requirement for health insurance companies is unchanged at `50 crores, while for life and non-life insurers it remains `100 crores.
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55 dead in Damascus
Beirut, May 10: Two suicide car bombers killed 55 people and wounded 372 in Damascus on Thursday, state media said, in the deadliest attacks in the Syrian capital since an uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began 14 months ago.
The blasts further shredded a ceasefire which was declared by international mediator Kofi Annan on April 12, but has failed to halt the bloodshed.
— Reuters
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Obama backs same-sex marriage
Stephen Collinson
Washington, May 10
Barack Obama became the first US President Wednesday to say publicly he was in favour of same-sex marriage, in a high-stakes intervention in a pre-election debate roiling American politics.
In what supporters will hail as a historic moment in civil rights history, Mr Obama changed his stance, after previously saying he was “evolving” on gay marriage, a fiercely divisive issue in US politics.
“I’ve just concluded, for me, personally, it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married,” Mr Obama said in an interview with ABC News.
The President said however, that a decision on whether to legalise gay marriage should be left to individual states. — AFP