Reuters
New Delhi: India’s insurance sector is expected to grow 17% in 2008-09 fiscal year if the economy expands at 7.6%, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) chairman J. Hari Narayan said on Wednesday.
He also told an insurance conference that there was no fear of job losses in the sector due to the global economic slowdown. The regulator is expected to finalize fresh rules on mergers and acquisitions by March 2009, he added.
In October, the federal cabinet approved changes to insurance laws and proposed raising the foreign investment limit to 49% from the present 26%.
India has 21 life and 20 general insurers. Some joint ventures include Tata AIG, Bajaj Allianz, ICICI Prudential, SBI Life, HDFC Standard Life, Birla Sunlife, Max New York Life and Bharti AXA Life.
Life insurers grew their business by 23.3% to Rs930 billion in 2007-08 fiscal year, while general insurers posted growth of about 14% in premium income to Rs298 billion, according to IRDA data.