Sensex Plunges 316 Points After Global Onslaught

As a reaction to credit agency S&P's disputable decision to cut US's rating, the Sensex on Monday opened acutely lower and crashed nearly 550 points.

But the market in India demonstrated resiliency and proved worthy as one of the best investment addresses of the world and recovered spectacularly. After the early shocks, investors were back in the buying mood. The Sensex recovered about 500 points.

The recovery was also assisted by global financial powerhouse Goldman Sachs’s report that graded India from 'underweight' to 'marketweight'.

As compared to other markets around the world such Nikkei in Japan, Hang Seng in Hong Kong, FTSE in London and Dow Jones in the US, the Sensex and Nifty has fared much better.

Stock Market May See Knee-Jerk Reaction

US market fall can affect the Indian stock market, resulting in illogical, irrational and knee-jerk reactions, when the market will open on Monday, according to industry experts.

According to experts, if stability funds are not in place, then markets will have a knee-jerk reaction, and the downgrade will increase the negative view. L&T Finance Holdings and Tree House Education’s initial public offerings could be affected. 

As per the insiders, although the U.S. government has not altered its treasuries risk weights, the downgrade would push the yields of US treasuries up.

Experts are also criticizing US for raising its debt ceiling. The largest holder of US Treasuries is China with 1.16 trillion dollars and the next is Japan worth $ 912.4 billion. When markets open today, China could be the worst affected.

Credit Score Now Important in India

Your credit score is tells how punctually you make payments of credit cards, loans, utility bills, premiums, rent cheques, etc. 

CIBIL (Credit Information Bureau (India) Limited) collects credit information from banks in very near future will be keeping your credit scores on the base of bill payments also. CIBIL scores will decide your eligibility for loan.

Looking at the importance of credit reports in your financial life, it is time that you should make your credit report work to your vantage.

Survey Shows Indians Willing to Pay More for Term Insurance

In a survey conducted by Swiss Re in India, 80% of respondents are willing to pay more for term life insurance cover.

The study was done in eleven Asia Pacific markets, covering 13,800 users between the age group of twenty and forty. 

The study showed that approximately 78% Indian respondents are planning to purchase health or life insurance products in the coming twelve months.

The survey also found that Indians find Life insurance is not high-priced as is the common perception and Indians can afford to buy it.

It was also found that Indian insurers are more into investment products than protection plans and lack of customized products was another problem.

Insurance penetration in India is very low; it is 5.1%, in which life contributes 4.4% and 0.7% is from non-life.

Phoenix Life insurance partners with Infosys for BPO

Hartford based insurer Phoenix Life insurance Co. has partnered with McCamish Systems LLC for outsourcing information processing for its insurance products of its Life account. McCamish Systems services will provide services, including customer support, conversion of data and policy administration. The process will be complete by the end of 2012.  

COO of Infosys BPO, Ritesh Idnani said, "We are delighted to partner with Phoenix to provide superior service to their producers and policyholders. Given McCamish Systems' rich domain expertise, we look forward to setting new benchmarks in the industry. We believe we will be able to exceed expectations by consistently delivering enhanced business value through this collaboration, whilst providing end-to-end solutions to Phoenix."

Phoenix Life Insurance Company is based in Hartford, Connecticut and supplies financial solutions utilizing life insurance and annuities. 

McCamish Systems, headquartered in Atlanta, is Life Insurance and Retirement Services subsidiary of Infosys BPO Ltd. The company has operations in India, China, Czech Republic, Philippines, Mexico, Poland, Brazil and USA.

Mphasis Buys US Company Wyde Corporation

Indian information technology Services Company, Mphasis is all set to buy out US-based software vendor Wyde Corporation. Wyde Corporation is creator of Wynsure, an insurance policy administration solution.

This is the second time that Mphasis has acquired a company in the insurance industry vertical. The first company was AIG Software Systems. Mphasis is a subsidiary of Hewlett-Packard and is based in Bangalore.  

The company will have 100% equity stake in Wyde. Wyde is headquartered in Minneapolis in US of A, and has a major Research & Development centre in Paris.

Health Insurance Booming in India

Health insurance market in India is seeing an enormous development since last few years in wake of raising consumer awareness and quickly flourishing health care infrastructure. Health insurance is the fastest growing sector among the general insurance section in India.

Studies have shown that India’s increasing population and public preference for private health-care sector over public healthcare sector is enhancing the growth of the health-care delivery market. The lack of basic infrastructure in healthcare facilities is providing opportunities to overseas investment companies. After USA, India has one of the biggest numbers of Joint Commission International (JCI) sanctioned hospitals.

In addition, the health-care sector is growing rapidly due to raised private-public partnerships in several different ventures. The Indian government is also attempting to develop better health-care base in the country.