Insurance, pension tax sops on cards

NEW DELHI: The government is considering a series of measures to boost the financial services sector, including additional tax incentives for investment in insurance and pension schemes, a move aimed at increasing long-term savings by individuals.

In a presentation to finance minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday, the department of financial services (DFS) has also proposed developing new instruments in the pension sector to attract long-term funds besides tax-free bonds for the infrastructure sector to help fund power, road and port projects.

Sources present in the meeting told TOI that the proposal is being sent to the RBI, which is expected to issue guidelines on the issue. The suggestion for the tax-free instruments and the tax sops come ahead of the Budget, which is expected to be presented in the first week of July. While DFS has recommended the measures, a final call will be taken by the revenue department, also housed in the finance ministry.