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New Delhi, Nov. 6: The government may rework the insurance reform bill, now before Parliament, to make it more acceptable to both the allies and the opposition parties, whose support is necessary to pass the bill in the Upper House.

A bone of contention is the proposal to raise FDI in insurance to 49 per cent from the present 26 per cent.

After the global meltdown, many political parties, including some of the Congress’s allies, opposed greater foreign control given the absence of a robust regulatory framework.

Allies such as the Trinamul Congress and the DMK have reservations about the bill. Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee admitted at a recent meeting with the economic editors that a consensus within the UPA was necessary.

“Besides getting the allies to agree, the government has to get the support of one major party in the Upper House to get these bills through,” officials said.

The Left and the Samajwadi Parties have long opposed the bills.

The officials said talks would be held at the political level to work out possible changes and did not rule out concession to foreign investment.

“There is no sanctity to either a 26 per cent FDI limit or to a 49 per cent FDI limit, things may change in that direction… within the FDI limit, sub-limits for FII and PE investors, who are not insurance firms and are not engaged in insurance businesses, may be set,” they said.

However, there is a consensus on the other reforms, one of them being lifting the lock-in for 10 years on the sale of shares by local promoters. The move will facilitate mergers and acquisitions.

Also on the cards is permission for Lloyds of London to operate in the country. Lloyds is not a company but a society of members comprising individuals and firms involved with insurance.

P. Chidambaram, when he was the finance minister, had told his British counterpart last year that the rules would be changed to accommodate Lloyds.

However, the most important change is the opening up of re-insurance, which till now is the monopoly of state-run General Insurance Corporation.

The changes will allow foreign re-insurers such as Swiss Re and Munich Re to open their offices here and get business directly.