Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority

INDIAN INSURANCE INDUSTRY:

Insurers

Insurance industry, as on 1.4.2000, comprised mainly two players: the state insurers:

Life Insurers:

Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC)

General Insurers:

General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC) (with effect from Dec'2000, a National Reinsurer)

GIC had four subsidary companies, namely ( with effect from Dec'2000, these subsidaries have been de-linked from the parent company and made as independent insurance companies.

Yr: 2000-2001 : ( From 2nd April '2000 to 31st December'2001)

Insurance Industry in the year 2000-2001 had 16 new entrants, namely:

Life Insurers:

S.No.	Registration Number	Date of Reg.	Name of the Company
1	101	23.10.2000	HDFC Standard Life Insurance Company Ltd.
2	104	15.11.2000	Max New York Life Insurance Co. Ltd.
3	105	24.11.2000	ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company Ltd.
4	107	10.01.2001	Kotak Mahindra Old Mutual Life Insurance Limited
5	109	31.01.2001	Birla Sun Life Insurance Company Ltd.
6	110	12.02.2001	Tata AIG Life Insurance Company Ltd.
7	111	30.03.2001	SBI Life Insurance Company Limited .
8	114	02.08.2001	ING Vysya Life Insurance Company Private Limited
9	116	03.08.2001	Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance Company Limited
10	117	06.08.2001	Metlife India Insurance Company Ltd.
11	133	04.09.2007	Future Generali India Life Insurance Company Limited
12	135	19.12.2007	IDBI Fortis Life Insurance Company Ltd.

General Insurers :

S.No.	Registration Number	Date of Registration	Name of the Company
1	102	23.10.2000	Royal Sundaram Alliance Insurance Company Limited
2	103	23.10.2000	Reliance General Insurance Company Limited.
3	106	04.12.2000	IFFCO Tokio General Insurance Co. Ltd
4	108	22.01.2001	TATA AIG General Insurance Company Ltd.
5	113	02.05.2001	Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company Limited
6	115	03.08.2001	ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company Limited.
7	131	03-08-2007	Apollo DKV Insurance Company Limited
8	132	04-09-2007	Future Generali India Insurance Company Limited
9	134	16-11-2007	Universal Sompo General Insurance Company Ltd.

Yr: 2001-2002 : ( From 1st Jan 2001 to Dec. 2002)

Insurance Industry in this year, so far has 5new entrants; namely

Life Insurers:

S.No.	Registration Number	Date of Reg.	Name of the Company
1	121	03.01.2002	AMP Sanmar Life Insurance Company Limited.
2	122	14.05.2002	Aviva Life Insurance Co. India Pvt. Ltd.

General Insurers :

S.No.	Registration Number	Date of Registration	Name of the Company
1	123	15.07.2002	Cholamandalam General Insurance Company Ltd.
2.	124	27.08.2002	Export Credit Guarantee Corporation Ltd.
3.	125	27.08.2002	HDFC-Chubb General Insurance Co. Ltd.

Yr: 2003-2004 : ( From 1st Jan 2003 till Date)

Insurance Industry in this year, so far has 1new entrants; namely

Life Insurers:

S.No.	Registration Number	Date of Reg.	Name of the Company
1	127	06.02.2004	Sahara India Insurance Company Ltd.

Yr: 2004-2005 :

Insurance Industry in this year, so far has 1new entrants; namely

Life Insurers:

S.No.	Registration Number	Date of Reg.	Name of the Company
1	128	17.11.2005	Shriram Life Insurance Company Ltd.

Yr: 2008-2009 :

Insurance Industry in this year, so far has 2 new entrants in Life and 1 new entry in General ; namely

Life Insurers:

S.No.	Registration Number	Date of Reg.	Name of the Company
1	138	27.06.2008	Aegon Religare Life Insurance Company Ltd.
2	140	27.06.2008	DLF Pramerica Life Insurance Company Ltd.

General Insurers:

S.No.	Registration Number	Date of Reg.	Name of the Company
1	139	27.06.2008	Bharti Axa General Insurance Company Ltd.

INSURANCE BUSINEES:

Insurance business is divided into four classes :

1) Life Insurance 2) Fire Insurance 3) Marine Insurance and 4) Miscellaneous Insurance.

Life Insurers transact life insurance business; General Insurers transact the rest.

No composites are permitted as per law.

LEGISLATION (as on 1.4.2000):

Insurance is a federal subject in India. The primary legislation that deals with insurance business in India is:

Insurance Act, 1938, and Insurance Regulatory & Development Authority Act, 1999.

INSURANCE PRODUCTS (as on 1.4.2000) (for latest information get in touch with the current insurers – website information of insurers is provided at the web page for insurers ):

Life Insurance:

Popular Products: Endowment Assurance (Participating), and Money Back (Participating). More than 80% of the life insurance business is from these products.

General Insurance:

Fire and Miscellaneous insurance businesses are predominant. Motor Vehicle insurance is compulsory.

Tariff Advisory Committee (TAC) lays down tariff rates for some of the general insurance products (please visit website of GIC for details )

2001

New products have been launched by life insurers. These include linked-products. For details, please visit the websites of life insurers.

INFORMATION

About the insurance industry, the following documents may be helpful:

Malhotra Committee Report (The Report of the Committee on Reforms in the Insurance Sector);

IRDA's First Annual Report - 2001

CUSTOMER PROTECTION:

Insurance Industry has Ombudsmen in 12 cities. Each Ombudsman is empowered to redress customer grievances in respect of insurance contracts on personal lines where the insured amount is less than Rs. 20 lakhs, in accordance with the Ombudsman Scheme. Addresses can be obtained from the offices of LIC and other insurers.