Paving way for additional foreign investment in insurance and to move ahead with the re-allocation of cancelled coal mines, President Pranab Mukherjee today signed the two ordinances in this regard.

The government had decided to promulgate these ordinances to move ahead with reforms in the two sectors, as respective bills could not get through during the just-concluded Parliament session that ended on Tuesday.

The President has signed the two ordinances, Press Secretary Venu Rajamony said. The Cabinet had had approved promulgation of the ordinance on insurance bill and re-promulgation of the coal ordinance on Wednesday, a day after the conclusion of the winter session of Parliament.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had expressed the hope that hiking of the foreign investment cap in the insurance sector to 49 per cent, which has been pending since 2008, will result in capital inflow of $6-8 billion. Earlier, this foreign investment limit was capped at 26 per cent.