HAZARIBAGH, JAN 18: Union Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha today said the Insurance Regulatory Authority (IRA) Bill would be passed in the Budget session of Parliament, even in the face of stiff opposition. He sought to dispel misgivings about the legislation, saying enough safeguards had been provided in it to protect the country's interests.``Nobody should be alarmed, as effective safeguards have been provided into the legislation to protect our interests. Every farthing earned by foreign insurance companies as profit, will be used for India's development,'' Sinha told a press conference.The Finance Minister said the IRA Bill would help bring more people and areas under insurance cover.Defending the Government decision to lower interest rates on postal savings, he said that the measure would facilitate disbursement of loans at lower interest rates for development schemes through financial institutions.Sinha said he was considering some changes in tax structure, particularly Indirect Taxes, toensure an increase in the Centre's revenue receipts. He, however, did not elaborate, citing propriety of budgetary secrecy.Listing his achievements, Sinha said that when he assumed charge of the Ministry, inflation stood at a daunting figure of nine per cent; which after the recent fall in prices of essential commodities, had come down to around five per cent.``Never in the past, inflation galloping so furiously has been checked to such an extent, in such a short span of ten months,'' he claimed.Sinha said the Vajpayee Government deserved credit for its handling of affairs in the aftermath of economic crises in East Asia.``Our markets, by and large, remained stable and macro-economic indicators like industrial growth, posed no cause for concern,'' he said.The Minister said that his stand, that the sudden rise in prices of vegetables, edible oils and other essential commodities was a temporary phenomenon caused by indifferent weather, had now been vindicated.
