Insurance Updates: India
1. IRDA drafting bancassurance guidelines
India’s insurance industry watchdog, Insurance Regulatory & Development Authority (IRDA), is working on a set of guidelines for bancassurance that will enable insurers to pass on savings achieved through using the bank distribution channel, reports The Economic Times citing a senior official at the regulator
| 2. IRDA actively studying several issues and initiatives | |
| IRDA is presently studying several issues at the same time, including the expenditures of life insurers and their effects on solvency margins, as the spending ratio of insurance companies has climbed beyond the optimal level. | |
| 3. Life sector registers negative growth in first 11 months of FY 09 | |
| The number of new policies issued by life insurers in India dipped 0.1% from April 2008 to February 2009, with Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) registering the steepest decline of 6%, according to data from IRDA. | |
| 4. Insurance premiums for cricket cover increase 40% | |
| Indian Premier League (IPL) organisers and the Board of Control for Cricket India (BCCI) will have to fork out as much as 40% more in premium payments to insure against terror attacks, according to media reports from India. | |
| 5. Some private insurers yet to be profitable | |
| Some private life insurers in India have yet to make profits after eight years of operations in the country, slower than the six to seven years which insurers globally take on average to break even or become profitable, reports the Business Standard. |
