The Congress on Wednesday said the opening up of the insurance sector is largely concentrated in urban life market, not addressing issues in health, rural and pension sectors.
"The most worrisome aspect of the entire liberalisation of the sector is that the entire focus of new players has been on life insurance products. The motivation of the opening up of insurance industry was not just to expand life insurance," Secretary of All India Congress Committee's Economic Affairs Department, Jairam Ramesh said in New Delhi addressing a Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry seminar on Consumer Awareness: Insurance Sector.
He said that after liberalisation, life sector expanded with more products and riders, but it was not to that extent in the general insurance sector.
Stressing that there were certain issues on the initial capital requirements for the health insurance, he said the opening up was brought about since in the country, only around two million of the population had got their health insured and the situation had not improved in the last two years.
Asserting "there is no danger in de-nationalising the market", he said the main motive was to expand the pensions so as to give some form of social security.
Ramesh said at present there was only one 'quasi-pension' product from the Unit Trust of India and there was a need to expand the product basket.
He said only around eight per cent of the employed had any sort of pension coverage.
"It is an important issue to be resolved," he said adding that with the demand picking up the sooner or later the issue of who would be the regulator would bury itself.
At present, the pension reforms are before the group of ministers, headed by Planning Commission Deputy chairman K C Pant.
Many reports, including that of Old Age Social and Income Security, Asian Development Bank and other agencies had already been submitted to the government.