Hyderabad, October 7
At least six insurance companies
have evinced interest in raising the stake of their foreign partners from
present 26% to 49%, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDAI)
Chairman TS Vijayan said today.
These six to seven companies are
from both life and non-life insurance space, he told reporters in response to
questions at an event organised by ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company Ltd
to announce that it had issued 1 lakh policies of the long-term two-wheeler
insurance.
The insurance regulator declined to
name the companies, saying they are yet to file a formal application on stake
hike. "There are various stages of approval".
The government raised the cap on FDI
in insurance sector in March this year.
Meanwhile, Vijayan hinted that IRDAI
would soon take a call on the issue of long-term health insurance policies.
He said a committee on health
insurance is looking into the issue and expected to submit its report soon.
"They have more or less
finalised the report. We are evaluating the report actually," Vijayan
said.
"We have to look at it...what
is the capital, solvency, claim settlement procedure..etc," he said noting
that often health insurance claims are settled by third party administrators.
"There
is a demand for long term (health insurance) policies, health savings policies
in the market," he said. PTI
