Max Bupa Health Insurance Company, the latest entrant in the group of standalone health insurance companies announced the completion their two successful years of operation in India. Max Bupa also shared their aim to double their growth on all parameters and cover 1 million lives by 2015.

The growing insurance sector in India has witnessed launch of monoline or specialist health insurance companies. These companies focus on offering only health insurance products popularly known as mediclaim...  Read More »

The Ministry of Finance has requested the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) to relax the branch opening norms in smaller cities thereby increasing the penetration of insurance in smaller towns and rural areas.

The current penetration of insurance in rural areas is very dismal in both life as well as non-life insurance sector. The Ministry of Finance is of the opinion that the one of the ways to boost the penetration of the insurance in these areas is by relaxing the norms...  Read More »

On April 24, 2012, Tata AIG General Insurance Company announced the launch of their health insurance policy called MediPrime. One of the striking features of this policy is that it offers lifetime renewal.

“We are proud to announce the launch of MediPrime; a product that has been designed specifically to meet the current requirements of the consumer and ensure that their needs from a health policy are met. Customer Delight is an important pillar of our Company values and MediPrime, with its’...  Read More »

A verdict of the Supreme Court in a matter involving United India Assurance states that even if the premium cheque of the policyholder bounces, the insurance company will still compensate the third party claim. The judgment in bold letters reads - Premium cheque dishonoured – Cancellation after accident – Insurer liable

Insurance companies issue motor insurance policies instantly after collecting the payment from the policyholder. In cases where payment mode is cash or credit card, there is...  Read More »

Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company, which is one of India’s leading private general insurance company, has appointed Tapan Singhel as its new Managing Director and CEO. Mr. Singhel who has been with Bajaj Allianz since inception was previously holding the position of Chief Marketing Officer since November 2009.

Tapan was a Zonal Manager for almost 3 years and then moved in the role of a President till 2009 post which he took up the Marketing function. He takes over the top position from...  Read More »

Religare Health Insurance Company Ltd. announced that they have received the R2 license from the insurance regulator IRDA. The R2 license is one step before the final approval after which the company will roll out operations and distribution network.

Religare Enterprises Limited (REL) which is a leading financial services group announced its foray into the health insurance industry by setting up Religare Health. The company has already established a strong foothold in the life insurance...  Read More »

The announcement by the Finance ministry in Budget to withdraw tax benefits from life insurance policies for low premium to sum assured ratio cases has gotten the entire life insurance industry worried. Now, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) has requested the finance ministry to revisit this decision and continue some of the tax benefits in life insurance policies.

The finance ministry has levied a rule that a policyholder will be able to avail tax benefits under...  Read More »

On 16th April 2012, The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) released an exposure draft of regulations for standard proposal form in life insurance. In continuation to prescribing standards for Needs Analysis in Life Insurance, the IRDA has now proposed a standard proposal form for individual policies in life insurance that shall have a section on Needs Analysis.

The regulator mentioned that it is not being prescriptive about any particular matrix or model but the idea is to...  Read More »

It will now be easy for customers to choose a health insurance policy because soon insurers will have to offer standard communication, policy tenures, exclusions and few other things. IRDA is coming out with some good recommendations that will be very useful to the customers while choosing a health insurance policy.

Earlier this year, the insurance regulator set up a Health Insurance Forum which will assist IRDA in creating standard rules and processes in the health insurance industry. On...  Read More »

Max New York Life Insurance Company finds a new foreign promoter when New York Life exited the life insurance company by selling its 26% stake to Mitsui Sumitomo for around Rs. 2,730 crores.

A simple calculation – if 26% is equal to Rs. 2,730 crores, then the life insurance company is valued at Rs. 10,507 crores. This is a healthy valuation for the 10 year old life insurance  venture. This is by far the second highest valuation received so far by a life insurance company in India, barring...  Read More »