Insurance, life and general: India
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Contents |
Insurance
Since opening up, the number of participants in the industry has gone up from six insurers (including Life Insurance Corporation of India, four public sector general insurers and General Insurance Corporation of India as the National Reinsurer) in the year 2000 to 47 insurers as on March 2010 operating in the life, non-life and reinsurance segments (including specialized insurers, viz., Export Credit Guarantee Corporation and Agriculture Insurance Company of India Ltd. AICIL). Three of the general insurance companies, viz., Star Health and Alliance Insurance Company; Apollo Munich Health Insurance Company; and Max BUPA Health Insurance Co. Ltd. function as standalone health insurance companies.
Of the 22 life insurance companies which have set up operations in the life segment post opening up of the sector, 20 are in joint venture with foreign partners. Of the 17 who have commenced operations in the non-life segment, 16 had been set up in collaboration with foreign partners. Thus, 36 companies in the private sector are operating in the country in collaboration with established foreign insurance companies from across the globe as on 31st March, 2010.
Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI)
Norms: 2015
The Times of India, Dec 04 2015
Mayur Shetty
IRDAI's new draft norms bat for GIC in reinsurance
In a move that might cause some global reinsurance companies to rework their plans for opening branches in India, the insurance regulator has done an about-turn on its regulations. In the IRDAI's meeting held on November 24, the government nominee Alok Tandon, joint secretary in the finance ministry , vetoed the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India's (IRDAI's) proposal to keep Indian reinsurer GIC Re on a par with other reinsurers and said that GIC Re needs to be given preference in reinsurance deals. Following this, IRDAI has put out a new draft norms for foreign reinsurers. This is the third time that the regulations on reinsurance have undergone a change. In the first draft in April 2015, the IRDAI had proposed a similar regime giving preference to GIC. However, after foreign reinsurers expressed reservations, a second draft was issued in May whereby insurance companies, while entering into reinsurance deals, would deal with the Indian reinsurer (GIC) or other registered reinsurers or Indian insurance companies.
Earlier, following the draft guidelines that sought to have a level playing field, multinational reinsurers such as Swiss Re, Munich Re and Scor had expressed interest in setting up a branch in India. “Even today , GIC Re's share of the reinsurance business in India is 52% and rest 48% of reinsurance business goes to foreign reinsurers. I do not think the norms provide any extra advantage to GIC Re,“ said K Sanath Kumar, acting chairman, GIC Re.
However, industry sources said that the idea behind branch licences was to bring onshore those reinsurers who are writing business from India sitting in international markets.
The size of the market
2013-2019
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From: April 9, 2021: The Times of India
See graphic:
Insurance penetration (premium as % of GDP), 2013-2019
See also
Insurance, life and general: India
