SBI, Bajaj file applications with IRDA

SBI, Bajaj file applications with IRDA
HARJEET AHLUWALIA

NEW DELHI, FEB 2: The State Bank of India (SBI) has become the first public sector bank to apply for an insurance licence. Its joint venture with Cardiff of France recently filed an application with the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) for starting life insurance operations in the country.

The partners will also be setting up a non-life venture too, but have yet to apply for it. In another development, Bajaj Auto has also filed for a general insurance licence in partnership with Allianz of Germany, and will be putting in another application for life insurance soon. Bajaj Auto had last year submitted a solo application but later urged IRDA to keep it in abeyance till it firmed up on a foreign partner.

Meanwhile, in a day that saw a lot of activity in the regulator’s office, the ING-Vysya-Damani life insurance venture on Friday submitted its R2 application, while the ICICI-Lombard venture submitted its R1 application for general insurance, Irda officials said. Royal Sundaram Alliance, one of the first non-life insurers, also filed for more of its products with the Irda.

RSA’s Antony Jacob said the company would be soft-launching a number of its products in the coming days apart from the ones already in the market, but the formal launch was slated for mid-March. It has already put out a few motor insurance covers, given the Sundaram strength in the auto sector. Irda officials maintained that the top priority of the regulator this month would be to process and approve all pending applications. This would facilitate launching of full-fledged operations by newly licensed insurers in the next fiscal.

Insurance firms get into quake relief: Four state-owned non-life insurance companies and the Life Insurance Corporation have started settling claims out of the devastating earthquake which struck Gujarat on January 26.

While the four non-life companies New India, United India, Oriental Insurance and National Insurance which are handling all the earthquake-related claims through a joint committee have settled few claims, LIC has settled three claims totalling Rs 7,50,000 till Friday. The joint committee of four non-life companies have been directed by the authorities to settle all claims within 30 days of filing with the insurance companies.

According to preliminary estimates, LIC expects about 10 per cent of quake victims in Gujarat to be its policy-holders. LIC officials have estimated that about 72 lakh of LIC’s 11 crore policy holders are from Gujarat. Around seven to eight per cent of the victims may be LIC’s policy holders. This is based on averages of past experiences. The institution is expecting average claims of around Rs 30,000. HDFC, India’s largest housing finance company, has an exposure of Rs 750 crore in Gujarat which constitute 5.8% of its total loan portfolio.