A day after prime minister asked finance ministry officials to boost growth in insurance sector, life insurance industry wants the government to start taking decisions to end the stalemate and remove the uncertainties. The biggest and unanimous demand from the industry is for faster clearance of pending product approvals. The Insurance Regulatory And Development Authority (Irda) hasn’t cleared a single product in this financial year. Another demand is to take a call on the insurance bill that proposes to hike the foreign direct investment (FDI) limit in the insurance sector to 49 per cent from 26 per cent.
“It has been five to six months that the regulator has cleared a product. Regulator has tied all product approvals to new product guidelines, that are yet to be finalised. So, if regulator doesn’t clear a product complying with new guidelines, there will not be a new product launch for another six months as companies will need to re-file product with new guidelines,” said Amitabh Chaudhry, MD and CEO, HDFC Life Insurance.
“Government should also take steps to improve the economy. Unless the economy does well, investment in savings products will not pour in. It should also roll out tax incentives for investment in insurance sector. There are some constraints,” said Gorakh Nath Agarwal, chief actuary, Future Generali India Life Insurance.
Another official of a private life insurance company said, “There is so much uncertainty. Regulations change everyday. Customer has no confidence to invest in insurance products. It is like the government has decided to kill the market completely. It is difficult to understand what is it that Irda is looking for. They have not approved plans filed by even one life insurance company.” Apart from Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), there are 23 private life insurance companies operating in India.
Source : FC Research Bureau
No comments:
Post a Comment