New Delhi: Amidst volatility in the stock markets, private sector life insurer Aviva India on Thursday said it is looking at the right way of entering into asset management business.

“As part of our expansion strategy in Asia Pacific and keeping in mind the opportunity India presents, we would like to explore the potential for establishing asset management business in India,” Aviva Asia chief executive Simon Machell said.

At this point, the company is looking at a number of options, including greenfield, association or mergers and acquisition for setting up AMC, he said, adding that long-term plan for entering into asset management remains intact.

Of the total 18 life insurance players, about nine have their asset management arm. Prominent among them include ICICI Prudential, Reliance Mutual Fund, HDFC Mutual Fund and SBI Mutual Fund.

Mutual fund space has become highly competitive with already 34 players operating in the market.

Aviva Life Insurance, a joint venture between Aviva and Dabur, has a capital base of about Rs1,400 crore.

On the cost saving exercise, Machell said, “Cost control remains a firm priority for us. We have introduced shared services across a number of markets and our recently announced IT outsourcing arrangement with EDS will provide us with data centre services for UK, France, India and Ireland.”