The Finance Ministry is expected to discuss the Insurance Bill with the Cabinet in a few days from now. However, the reforms suggested in the bill seem to be toned down. The wait for increasing the FDI limit in the insurance sector from 26% to 49% will go on for a bit longer.
 

The proposed changes / amendments in the Insurance Bill are focusing on customer protection and better transparency. Some of the points which may be a part of the changes in the Insurance Bill are –

• FDI limit...  Read More »

Berkshire Hathaway Inc which runs Insurance and reinsurance business activities through approximately 70 domestic and foreign-based insurance companies extends its Reinsurance business in India.

Berkshire which is controlled by the business magnate and investor Warren Buffet, has been trying to set its foot in the Indian Insurance market for sometime now. But the bar on the foreign investment limit has kept them at bay from setting up a wholly owned insurance company. Last year, Berkshire...  Read More »

BCCI is trying to get an insurance cover of Rs. 900 crores for the upcoming Indian Premier  League ( IPL). This is huge!

The policy will cover the potential loss in revenue through event cancellation due to un-controllable reasons like natural calamities, terrorism, bad weather etc. The amount of cover sought is more than what was take for the Cricket World Cup held in India, The Commonwealth Games or even the Formula 1 race held in Noida.

• World Cup Cover – 750 crores
...  Read More »

Public sector insurer, Oriental Insurance Company which touched Rs 55 billion or Rs 5,500 crore in premiums last year, is aiming to touch Rs 65 billion this fiscal.
 

R K Kaul Chairman & Managing Director, Oriental Insurance Company said that the company aims to achieve a business growth of Rs 65 billion (Rs 6,500 crore) in the current financial year 2011-12 and touch Rs 100 billion mark in the next 3 years.
 

"We are maintaining an annual growth rate of 16.5%. Last year, we garnered...  Read More »

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority said that it is working at laying down a broad framework for detecting, classifying, mitigating and reporting of insurance frauds to keep claims ratio at an acceptable level.
 

Insurance fraud is a planned act of deceiving, hiding, exaggerating or distorting material information with the purpose of obtaining undue benefits. It poses a serious threat to the insurance business as it increases the claims ratios to unacceptable levels thereby...  Read More »

Insurance penetration is measured as a ratio of premium to Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Here is a look at the insurance penetration in the emerging Asian countries in 2010. The total penetration is a sum of individual penetration in the life insurance and non-life insurance space.

Taiwan has the highest insurance penetration of 18.4%, while the lowest penetration stands at 0.7% in Pakistan.



The total insurance penetration in India dropped to 5.1% in the financial year 2010-2011 from...  Read More »

The insurance industry which has been hopeful of a possible increase in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) limits from the current 26% to 49% will be utterly disappointed as the panel snubs their expectations.

The Insurance (Amendment) Bill was introduced in the Rajya Sabha in December 2008. It sought to bring about improvement and revision of laws pertaining to the insurance sector and was referred to the standing committee.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance has rejected the...  Read More »

The new bancassurance exposure draft released by the IRDA should bring about a positive impact to the three standalone health insurance companies in India – Apollo Munich Health Insurance, Star Health Insurance and Max Bupa Health Insurance.

According to the draft, one bancassurance agent can tie-up with one life insurance, one non-life (general) insurance and one standalone health insurance company in any of the states.

Bancassurance is a term that refers to banks selling insurance...  Read More »

Issuance of Capital by Life Insurance Companies – IRDA Regulations, 2011

The IRDA has released the guidelines for Issuance of Capital by Life Insurance Companies, allowing insurers who have completed 10 years from the date of commencement of business to raise share capital through a public issue.

Registration date of Life Insurance Companies in India

Highlights of Issuance of Capital Regulations, 2011 are:

.Life insurance companies that have completed 10 years can propose to raise...  Read More »