IRDAI to change capital norms for insurance companies

Insurance sector regulator IRDAI was in the process of tweaking the capital requirements norms for insurance companies, an official said Thursday. "In India, the capital requirement at present is Rs 100 crore, which is quite high as compared to advanced nations", Nilesh Sathe, Member (Life), Insurance Regulatory Development Authority of India (IRDAI) said. By 2021 or 2022, this amount would be changed so that many aspirants could join the insurance sector, he told reporters on the sidelines of MCCI seminar here on Thursday.

These firms also did not need to offer a plethora of products but could stick to select ones, he viewed. Sathe also said he was in line with the banking sector requirements to bring down promoters' capital leading to the listing of the insurance firms. According to him, term policies in India were driven by the private sector, unlike the LIC, adding India still provided big scope for insurance penetration and an increase in density of insured persons.

(With inputs from agencies.)