Tale bearer

New norms

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) is considering giving insurance companies more leeway in their discretionary investments. According to the current norms, companies are required to invest 85 per cent of their portfolio in government and other approved securities and the remaining 15 per cent investments are largely left to the discretion of company boards. In the proposed norms, the investment committees of companies will be able to make discretionary investments without the prior approval of the board (which would still lay down the broad investment policy). This could mean more investments in the equity markets by insurance companies.

— Manu Kaushik

Fiscal prudence

The Finance Ministry is contemplating a large 34 per cent cut in the gross budgetary support of Rs 3,44,761 crore demanded by various ministries for 2008-09.

If implemented, the proposed cuts are likely to affect a number of social sector programmes of the UPA government, including Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Mid-Day Meal Scheme, Bharat Nirman, etc.

— Kapil Bajaj