If this line of argument has truly been adopted, one has to commend the ministry for its sophistry. Foreign players have much deeper pockets than public sector players. And several domestic corporate houses too are no chickens when it comes to financial muscle. So far as competition is concerned, the only maxim is--`The more the merrier'. It is the government's business, or, to be precise, the regulatory authority, to ensure that firms entering insurance sector are wellcapitalised, do business according to rules, and are in the business for the long haul. The government has no business to decide if banks, or FIs, or housing companies, should get into insurance or not--that should be left to the managements of these firms. So much for public sector autonomy.

If public sector ownership is a matter of concern, all that the ministry has to do is propose privatisation. Moreover, the term-lending business of FIs has a clear synergy with insurance, since insurance is a source of long-term funds, while lending to infrastructure is long-term deployment of assets. The world over, barriers in the financial sector are being broken down. Bureaucrats should not be allowed to stand in the way of modernisation of Indian financial sector.