India Opposition Signals Support for Key Modi Reforms

Dated 3rd November, 2014

India’s main opposition Congress party signaled it would back several laws that are key to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s efforts to revive the economy during the legislative session this month.

Congress will conditionally support measures to pass a goods and services tax, allow more foreign investment in insurance and allocate coal mines transparently, according to Abhishek Manu Singhvi, a lawmaker with the party in the upper house of parliament. The party had proposed the moves before losing power to Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party in May.

“We will give constructive support in principle, but with the very specific caveat that both god and the devil lie in the details,” Singhvi said today in a phone interview. “These are bills which we have moved, and we are not hypocritical.”

Opposition support is crucial to Modi’s efforts to revive Asia’s third-biggest economy after winning the biggest Indian election mandate in 30 years. While his BJP controls the lower house of parliament, it holds less than a fifth of seats in the 245-member upper house.

During the last parliamentary session in August, opposition lawmakers blocked Modi’s attempt to pass a bill that would raise the foreign ownership cap in the insurance sector to 49 percent from 26 percent.

Main opposition Congress party signaled it would back several laws that are key to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s efforts to revive the economy during the legislative session this month.

Congress will conditionally support measures to pass a goods and services tax, allow more foreign investment in insurance and allocate coal mines transparently, according to Abhishek Manu Singhvi, a lawmaker with the party in the upper house of parliament. The party had proposed the moves before losing power to Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party in May.

“We will give constructive support in principle, but with the very specific caveat that both god and the devil lie in the details,” Singhvi said today in a phone interview. “These are bills which we have moved, and we are not hypocritical.”

Opposition support is crucial to Modi’s efforts to revive Asia’s third-biggest economy after winning the biggest Indian election mandate in 30 years. While his BJP controls the lower house of parliament, it holds less than a fifth of seats in the 245-member upper house.

During the last parliamentary session in August, opposition lawmakers blocked Modi’s attempt to pass a bill that would raise the foreign ownership cap in the insurance sector to 49 percent from 26 percent.

(This article is published on 3rd Nov 2014 in Bloomberg.com)