Rising interest among private equity players to acquire stakes in insurance companies in India may have solved the funding gap, without insurers needing to raise funds through a public listing.
The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) recently launched its regulatory sandbox to market participants at an event organised by the insurance regulator in partnership with Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). It has started taking applications earlier this week with the application period concluding on 14 October.
The IRDAI has started informal talks with insurance companies whose shareholding structure faces disruption with the proposed merger of 10 state owned banks into four, said a source aware of the development.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched national voluntary pension schemes for farmers, small traders and the self employed. The terms of the schemes are largely similar.
Last year, Hong Kong was one of the world's most visited cities, with 30 million tourists. According to the Hong Kong administration, visitor numbers have decreased by almost 40% from last year. The city of course has faced months of protests that still show no signs of ending.
India's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) has dropped its plan to list its general insurance venture as there is currently no need for additional capital, chairman Rajnish Kumar has said.
The National Health Authority (NHA) and the IRDAI in a joint report released last Saturday have recommended best practices, common standards, collaborative measures and IT framework for effective healthcare through health insurance in India.
The Indian government is ready to spend around $100m for technology intervention in its flagship agriculture insurance programme, Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) in order to make it robust and attractive to farmers, said Dr Ashish Kumar Bhutani, CEO of the programme.
Reliance Capital is said to have cancelled a sale of its general insurance unit, Reliance General Insurance, to consumer banking firm Hero Fincorp.
Life insurance companies have approached the IRDAI for approval to sell indemnity-based health insurance product.