The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has proposed that insurance firms that have completed 8 years operation in the general insurance and re-insurance sector and 10 years in the life insurance sector can apply for mandatory public listing.
It issued a discussion paper ‘Listing of Indian Insurance Companies’ on the public listing of insurance firms in August 2016.
According to the regulatory framework, insurance companies can get listed through an offer-for-sale or through public issue for capital requirements. Under the guidelines, general insurance companies that include standalone health insurance companies and reinsurance companies were to go for listing if they had completed 8 years of operation.
The IRDAI said that all Indian insurance companies who fulfilled these criteria should take up the matter of listing with their board of directors within 3 months of the date of issuance of these guidelines and the map for their initial public offering approved by the board should be submitted to the authority within 45 days of the approval.
As of July 2016, there were 55 insurance companies operating in India of which 8 were in the public sector and 47 in the private sector. Of the 47 companies, 32 companies in both life and general insurance met the guidelines set by the IRDAI but only two life insurance companies had filed their applications to get their shares listed in the stock market, the IRDAI reported.