INSURANCE
Irdai asks insurance companies to go for listing to improve access to capital: Debasish Panda
Apr-08-2022

Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) Chairman Debasish Panda said that the regulator has asked insurance companies to go for listing to improve their access to capital. He added the listing will help insurance players to raise capital for growing their business and also deepening the insurance penetration in the country. He also said ‘That brings in a lot of transparency, disclosures and access to the market to raise capital. This will help them grow and ultimate target of deepening insurance penetration will happen’.

Panda, the former financial services secretary, said the insurance regulator is nudging the players for listing and will also facilitate them in the process. He said ‘we will also ask them to give us a road map on what time they will be able to go for a listing. It is a multi-pronged strategy so that they have easy access to capital’. He also said the regulator is also revisiting the current investment norms that have been laid down and will look at relaxing some of the regulations to remove any bottleneck for insurance companies in getting more capital.

In February this year, the government had filed the draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with markets regulator SEBI for Life Insurance Corporation of India's (LIC) initial public offering. SEBI had approved the mega IPO proposal of LIC in March. The government is expecting to garner over Rs 60,000 crore by selling about 31.6 crore or 5 per cent stake in state-owned life insurer.

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