British Prime Minister David Cameron (right) with plan panel deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia (second from right), Kapil Sibal, minister of human resource development, and commerce minister Anand Sharma (left) in New Delhi on Thursday. (PTI)

New Delhi, July 29: Britain has raised the pitch for easier foreign investment norms in insurance and banking.

John Osborne, the UK’s chancellor of the exchequer, who has come along with Prime Minister David Cameron, today met finance minister Pranab Mukherjee to discuss the prospects of opening up India’s financial sector.

Sources said India had promised to allow British banks such as Standard Chartered, HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland to open more branches and give fund syndicates an opportunity to participate in infrastructure financing.

This follows Britain’s move to allow the State Bank of India to set up more branches in the UK.

After the global economic slowdown, UK’s financial majors were keen to enter the fast growing markets such as India and China.

However, the financial crisis saw the collapse of many banks in the US and Europe while the Indian banks remained healthy. This has led to a growing apprehension over opening up of the banking sector.

The government is keen to hike the FDI cap in insurance to 49 per cent but needs the support of key allies such as the Trinamul Congress and the DMK to amend the law.

Around six British insurers, including Aviva, are keen to increase their stakes that are capped at 26 per cent.

Earlier in the day, Cameron and business secretary Vince Cable announced that Ratan Tata and Standard Chartered chairman Peter Sands would co-chair a Indo-UK CEO’s forum. India also has a CEO’s forum with the US.

North Block officials said the forum would play an important role in facilitating the India-EU free trade pact slated to be finalised this year.