This is the first time the Insurance Regulatory Development Authority (IRDA) will participate in the HLC meetings.

The meeting, in which representatives of the Union Finance Ministry and regulators Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) and IRDA will participate, is also likely to consider the issue of norms relating to foreign institutional investors (FII) investment in futures market.

The high level committee was formed to delineate the powers, authorities and responsibilities of various regulators over several subjects arising out of the changing regulatory scenario in the wake of liberalisation and globalisation during the past decade.

Mutual funds industry had already been allowed to invest not more than $ 50 million in stocks aborad, but only in ADRs and GDRs of domestic companies.

This, the Sebi chairman DR Mehta had hinted recently, could be widened to include more securities.

After the formation of IRDA, the issue of which of these regulators should oversee what part of the regulatory mechanism includes foreign investment ceiling, raising of stake by foreign investor, public issues or related aspects.

While foreign exchange regulations fall under the jurisdiction of RBI, capital issues and related aspects were being regulated by Sebi. The allocation of regulatory functions pertaining to the development of secondary debt market between RBI and Sebi was resolved recently.

Sources said the HLC was more of a sounding board for regulators where broad policies are discussed, and then left to each individual regulator to implement and follow-up action. Thereafter, stock-taking of those decisions will take place. "It's an open-ended kind of a thing. Not that we take a set of issues and take decisions on them at the meeting; it's a sounding board", a top regulatory official said on the eve of the meeting.