Budget 2013 presents good opportunity to introduce insurance reforms: USIBC

The US India Business Council (USIBC) has said that Budget 2013-14 presents a distinctive opportunity for India to realise the latent potential in long-awaited reforms in the insurance sector.

"Other sectors where USIBC sees potential for reforms is pensions, technology, real estate, and infrastructure. All economic indicators point to now being the right time," USIBC President Ron Somers said.

"We believe in the resolve of the government to work through political challenges and kick-start the engine of jobs and opportunity," he said.

"We strongly support the government's continued efforts on the Goods and Services Tax (GST). We believe the GST would dramatically increase government revenue while decreasing the cost of doing business across states, creating a 'win-win' dynamic that will be good for the economy," Somers said.

USIBC asked Finance Minister P Chidambaram to take a broad view on the core concerns impacting investment levels in India in the upcoming Union Budget.

The industry body has underscored the need to encourage investment via strong signals to the global business community in a pre-budget memorandum submitted to the Finance Minister.

A consequent return of investor confidence would harness the tremendous power of India's economy to restoring growth levels, USIBC said in a statement.