A broad coalition of bank and insurance sector trade unions on Monday issued a joint appeal opposing the Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2025, which was tabled in the Lok Sabha by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. The unions have announced nationwide protest demonstrations on December 18, warning that the proposed legislation would allow excessive foreign control over India’s domestic savings.
The Bill, officially titled The Sabka Bima Sabki Raksha (Amendment of Insurance Laws) Bill, 2025, seeks to amend three key legislations—the Insurance Act, 1938; the Life Insurance Corporation Act, 1956; and the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority Act, 1999. According to the government, the amendments aim to accelerate growth in the insurance sector, enhance policyholder protection, improve ease of doing business and strengthen regulatory oversight.
However, major employee organisations including the All India Bank Employees’ Association (AIBEA), All India Bank Officers’ Confederation (AIBOC), National Confederation of Bank Employees (NCBE), All India Insurance Employees’ Association (AIIEA), and the All India LIC Employees’ Federation (AILICEF) have alleged that the Bill’s real intent is to permit 100 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) in insurance companies, a move they say is against public interest.
In a joint statement, the unions argued that raising the FDI cap from the current 74 per cent to 100 per cent would neither benefit the Indian economy nor policyholders. Instead, they warned, it would hand over control of India’s long-term domestic savings to foreign capital. “Domestic savings play a critical role in national development. As a welfare state, India must retain greater control over these resources to meet its constitutional obligations,” the statement said.
The unions pointed out that foreign insurers have already entered India through joint ventures and that the existing FDI limit is not a constraint on sectoral growth. Citing a reply given by Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary in the Rajya Sabha in December 2024, they noted that foreign equity in the insurance sector stood at Rs 31,365.57 crore as of March 31, 2024—just 32.67 per cent of the permitted 74 per cent cap.
They also referred to data from the IRDAI Annual Report 2023–24, which showed that only four life insurance companies had utilised the 74 per cent FDI limit, while several major insurers had no foreign equity at all. According to the unions, this undermines the argument that higher foreign investment limits are necessary for sectoral expansion.
The joint appeal further warned that allowing 100 per cent foreign ownership could disrupt the industry if overseas partners exit joint ventures to operate independently. Such a shift, they claimed, would push insurers to focus on high-net-worth and highly profitable segments, neglecting insurance needs of lower-income and marginalised sections.
Against the backdrop of global economic uncertainty, tariff wars and capital outflows, the unions described the proposed FDI hike as “imprudent” and “retrograde”. They have called upon their units to organise joint protest demonstrations on December 18 across state capitals, district headquarters and major towns.
The appeal has been jointly signed by leaders including C.H. Venkatachalam (AIBEA), Rupam Roy (AIBOC), Rajesh Kumar (AILICEF), S. Rajkumar (Federation of LIC Class I Officers’ Associations), Shreekant Mishra (AIIEA), L. Chandrasekhar (NCBE) and others.
The unions have urged all affiliated organisations to coordinate locally and ensure united participation in the protests against the proposed amendments.