Expense Account, Mint
The relief across the financial sector is palpable. North Block is now under the control of a minister who has not delegated the work to a compromised cabal. And even better, he is a person who understands the markets and finance. After the mutual fund announcements last week, this week the ministerial gaze turns to life insurance. The aim is possibly to rework the broken parts of the insurance industry, with the worry being that the life insurance sector has seen falling business. Life insurance premiums have been the traditional way in India to plug small savings into big finance. Insurance companies, especially the public sector behemoth the Life Insurance Corp. of India (LIC) has been ready with large war chests to soak up public issues and prop up markets.