IRDA May Set a Time-Frame for Insurers to Go Public

India’s insurance regulator IRDA may set a time-frame for insurers to go for public listing. This was also the stand taken by Reserve Bank of India, calling for promoters of new private banks to cut their share within ten years of getting a licence.

According to law, there is no specific time limit, but the insurance regulator could do so. IRDA has finalized IPO norms for helping life companies go public. The regulator has mapped out different disclosure guidelines for insurance companies in advance of listing since there were great numbers of policyholders who have stake in the company.

Chairman of IRDA, J. Hari Narayan said, “The changes were required to restore customer confidence. Restrictions on pension ULIPS were placed because life insurers were selling mutual fund schemes under the garb of ULIP pensions. A lot of ULIP products which were sold as pensions were not really pension products, they were more like mutual funds."

Online Term Insurance Cheaper By 10%

If you consider insurance, then term insurance is the real insurance. It is the pure insurance plan where you have to pay very less premium and you get covered for a big amount. The best way to buy term plans is online. Term insurance sold online are much cheaper as compared to normal channels such as through agents as insuring companies pass-on the saved cost on distribution and are laden with good features.

Online term plans are 8% to 10% cheaper than those sold through normal channels because there is no mediator between the seller and buyer. Most of the life insurance companies have started customizing term plans particularly planned to be sold online. 

These plans are more and more becoming popular as there is an increase in awareness about the requirement for life insurance. To increase online sales, insurers are giving more benefits to make their plans more appealing to customers.

Insurance Summit 2011 To Address Issues Facing Indian Insurance Industry

India's leading business Newspaper, the Economic Times is coordinating ‘Insurance Summit 2011’ with an aim to address the issues facing the Indian insurance industry. The summit will bring together some of the brightest minds from Indian insurance industry. These experts will contribute their outlook on the fundamental challenges and opportunities facing the insurance industry.

The Summit will be addressed by its Chairman, D.K. Mehrotra, MD, LIC of India followed by Mr. J. Hari Narayan, Chairman, IRDA.

The summit is a platform on which various Industry leaders can discuss different strategies to prompt development of the Insurance industry.

The day long summit will focus on various topics such as preparing insurance industry to breeze through rough times, exploring new horizons in Insurance industry, emerging opportunities and challenges in the industry, etc.