Six insurance firms keen to raise FDI cap to 49%

Hyderabad, October 7

At least six insurance companies have evinced interest in raising the stake of their foreign partners from present 26% to 49%, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDAI) Chairman TS Vijayan said today.

These six to seven companies are from both life and non-life insurance space, he told reporters in response to questions at an event organised by ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company Ltd to announce that it had issued 1 lakh policies of the long-term two-wheeler insurance.

The insurance regulator declined to name the companies, saying they are yet to file a formal application on stake hike. "There are various stages of approval".

The government raised the cap on FDI in insurance sector in March this year.

Meanwhile, Vijayan hinted that IRDAI would soon take a call on the issue of long-term health insurance policies.

He said a committee on health insurance is looking into the issue and expected to submit its report soon.

"They have more or less finalised the report. We are evaluating the report actually," Vijayan said.

"We have to look at it...what is the capital, solvency, claim settlement procedure..etc," he said noting that often health insurance claims are settled by third party administrators.

"There is a demand for long term (health insurance) policies, health savings policies in the market," he said. PTI