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Insurance, patent bills next week, hints Khurana; 'LIC, GIC won't be affected'

The government has proposed to introduce the Insurance Regulatory Authority Bill, 1998, and the Patents (Amendment) Bill, 1998, in Parliament next week, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Madan Lal Khurana announced today.

He said the government had suggested that the insurance bill could be introduced on Monday but the final decision would be taken by Lok Sabha speaker G M C Balayogi about it. The patents bill would come up sometime next week.

Khurana said that the proposed insurance bill was meant to provide better insurance coverage to the citizens and also to augment the flow of long-term resources for financing infrastructure. It had therefore been proposed to open the insurance sector to private sector for better competition. The insurance regulatory authority would be converted into a statutory body.

He said the country needed about $ 125 billion for The development of infrastructure sector for rapid economic development. It was therefore necessary that the insurance sector be opened to private sector.

Khurana, defending the government's decision, said that it would not adversely affect the public sector Life Insurance Corporation of India and the General Insurance Companies.

The bill will protect the interests of the policy-holders including in the matter of settlement of insurance claims. No insurer would be allowed to invest, directly or indirectly, outside India the funds of the policy-holders, he said.

The patents bill, he said, proposes to provide grant of exclusive marketing rights in the fields of pharmaceuticals and agricultural chemicals.

UNI

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