February 1, 2021: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her Budget Speech today at the Parliamentary Session made an announcement about a major change in the FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) policy.
As a part of the Union Budget 2021, the Ministry of Finance has proposed an amendment of the Insurance Act by which it seeks to increase the current FDI limit of 49% to 74%, now allowing foreign companies to buy ownerships.
This is perhaps a part of the capitalist economic program which the Modi Government has advocated since it came into power in 2014.
FM Sitharaman also talked about investor protection saying, “towards investor protection, I propose to introduce an investor charter as a right for all investors in all financial products.”
This process will go down in complementation to another plan proposed in the budget by which the Ministry seeks to consolidate the provisions of the Sebi Act, Depositories Act, and two other major financial Acts and amalgamate them into a unified law called the Unified Securities Market Code.