The committee has asked for certain clarifiactions from the Ministry of Finance (MoF) about various aspects of the already drafted bill. The response from the ministry is expected on Wednesday.

The MoF is being assisted by Insurance Regulatory Authority to reply the questions put by the committee. The committee will try to incorporate certain changes in the existing bill which will be put through to vote as the members are not unamimous about the changes, said the sources.

The centre may fail to pass the IRA Bill during the budget session as the deadline for submission of the report on IRA bill by the standing committee on finance has been extended from February 22 to March 5.

The IRA bill was refered to the 35-member committee,headed by Murli Deora, on December 15 during the winter session of parliament. The committee has members representing divergent political opinion about the ongoing insurance sector reforms.

It is expected that the committee will submit the report to the Lok Sabha on March 5 detailing the final structure of the bill for the approval of the lower house during the budget session of parliament.

The delay in preparing the report is attributed to the fact that the committee has not been able to decide on the equity structure for the joint ventures.

The committee is understood to be in favour of scrapping the 14 per cent reservation for foreign institutional investors (FIIs) and overseas corporte bodies (OCBs).

Convinced that foreign partcipation has to be limited to 26 per cent the committee is faced with the dilemma of providing a 74 per cent stake to Indian companies.

The committee is of the opinion that not many domestic companies will be able to raise 74 per cent of the equity to start a jointventure. The committee is also not certain as how the Indian partners will provide additional capital to support the venture as business grows.

Going by the solvency requirements, both the partners are required to contribute to the growing capital requirements as the business grows.

Inaugurating an international seminar on insurance sector in Mumbai, special insurance secretary BK Chatuvedi said that the ministry intends give full freedom to regulate the industry. "Except in exceptional developments, we do not want any involvement from our side,'' he said.