Wipro, India's fourth-largest IT services company, has secured an eight-year deal with Singapore-based Olam group, valued at over $1 billion, and will also acquire Olam's IT and digital services arm, Mindsprint, for $375 million, marking one of its largest contracts to date.
Insurance companies reported nearly 23 per cent growth in first year premium in the first quarter of financial year 2024-25, when compared to the same period last year, with market leader LIC leading the charge with 28 per cent growth. According to the data released by the Life Insurance Council, the new business premium (NBP) increased by 22.91 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) to ~89,726.7 crore in Q1FY25 from ~73,004.87 crore in Q1 FY24, reflecting a robust demand for insurance policies in the country.
Life insurers, on the prodding of global reinsurers, are set to hike premiums on term plans because rising mortality after the second wave of the pandemic has led to an increase in the number of settlements. Some will do so next month while others may wait till January. Global reinsurer Munich Re had nudged its insurance partners on the hike in September and insurers have been engaged in negotiations with the reinsurer on the amount of the increase. Term plan prices in India were among the lowest in the world for a long period but in the past couple of years, they have been increased a few times.
When Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India gets listed on the bourses next month, it will be among the biggest listed life insurers globally in terms of market capitalisation (m-cap), assets, and revenue, but will also be among the least profitable and capitalised among its peer group. A big gap between LIC's m-cap, profits, and networth (shareholder capital) will make it one of the priciest insurers globally, in terms of price-to-earnings (P/E) multiple and price-to-book value (P/B) ratio. LIC also lags behind its Indian listed peers in terms of profit and networth.
Self-employed individuals often face hurdles in buying term insurance due to financial documentation that doesn't fully reflect their earnings. This complicates underwriting.
With Income Tax Act 2025 in force, your tax choice can quietly cost you big money if you're not paying attention. Ramalingam Kalirajan explains how
It will help in reducing the turnaround time.
The insurer is a venture between banking major ICICI Bank and the UK's Prudential Corporation Holdings. Singapore's Temasek and Premji Invest are also the shareholders.
While the proposed new tax regime is optional for taxpayers, the finance minister has said the government eventually wants to do away with all exemptions with a lower tax-rate simplified structure.
'We are getting used to the constant alerts to take shelter, listening to sonic booms from jets flying above us, hearing news of neighbouring ports being targeted, and being the only ship in the terminal.'
CPGRAMS -- an online platform available to citizens 24x7 to lodge their grievances to public authorities on service delivery -- has existed for close to two decades. But it has never been this active, points out Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
In 2023-2024, 95 scheduled commercial banks received over 10 million complaints from their customers. The process of KYC at many banks has become 'HYC' -- harass your customer, points out Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
State-owned insurer Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) on Tuesday posted a 38 per cent increase in net profit to Rs 19,013 crore in the fourth quarter ended March 2025 helped by lower expenses. The country's biggest insurer had earned a profit of Rs 13,763 crore in the corresponding quarter a year earlier.
Putting together all the required documents and surmounting legal hurdles could be a challenge for the nominee.
Naval Goel of PolicyX answers some important questions before buying insurance policies
'I am very happy to see that the work is starting to bear some fruit now.'
For patients, the immediate impact is a reduction in the final cost of therapies that often run into lakhs per month.
The share of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) in monthly new business premium (NBP) in the life insurance sector declined to 58.50 per cent in September 2023 from 68.25 per cent in September 2022 -- a drop of 975 basis points -- owing to shortcomings in the product and distribution side of business. However, the market share saw a marginal uptick from the 57.37 per cent recorded in August this year. According to the monthly business data released for September 2023 by the Life Insurance Council, the NBP of LIC up to September 2023 stood at Rs 92,462.62 crore as compared to about Rs 1.25 trillion in the same period a year ago.
Ask rediffGURU and PF expert Milind Vadjikar your insurance, stocks, mutual fund and personal finance-related questions.
India's largest insurer Life Insurance Corporation of India on Monday announced its intention to foray into health insurance sector jointly with another company, which could be a PSU general insurer.
Market-linked products have been driving the growth of private insurers for some time now. But, the market volatility has forced the companies to re-think their strategies, reports Subrata Panda.
'This will be our first large-size bank partner, and hence, the partnership will be a game-changer for us.'
High-value insurance policies experienced muted growth in the first six months of the current financial year after the Centre decided to tax such products in this year's Budget. Simultaneously, there has been a marked improvement in the growth of policies with premiums of 'less than Rs 5 lakh', mainly originating from smaller cities. During this year's Budget, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed that insurance policies (excluding unit linked insurance plans or ULIPs) with an aggregate premium exceeding Rs 5 lakh, and the maturity amount, would not be exempt from tax.
This will help expand the distribution channels, said Subhash Chandra Khuntia, chairman of the insurance regulatory and development authority of India.
Insurance company will bear the cost of digitising. It will in turn benefit from lower expenses on servicing policies.
Kunal Varma, CEO, Freo, explains what Hospicash and Day Care Insurance covers are and how they help manage financial and mental stress.
Life Insurance Corp of India (LIC), which is aiming to launch its initial public offering (IPO) next month, is set to alter the pecking order of top listed companies in the country. Depending upon where the government prices the IPO, the stock could end up becoming India's most valuable company on the first day and even get fast-tracked into global benchmark indices given its sheer size. According to market sources, LIC's IPO is targeting to mop up Rs 63,000 crore and Rs 75,000 crore.
Ask rediffGURU and PF expert Milind Vadjikar your insurance, stocks, mutual fund and personal finance-related questions.
Overcoming its initial concerns, national reinsurer GIC Re has contributed to the formation of an insurance pool to cover most imports from Russia. While it will be called the fertiliser pool with a corpus of Rs 500 crore, it can be used to cover the risks of oil and gas imports too. This was decided by a clutch of Indian insurance companies, led by the state-owned ones. GIC Re's share is about 40 per cent in the pool. Last month, GIC Re had shot off a letter to all non-life insurance companies that underwrite marine risks not to ask it for reinsurance of cargoes that originate from Russia.
Mauritius-based IndusInd International Holdings and other Hinduja group entities are expected to make payments worth Rs 9,661 crore for the acquisition of bankrupt Reliance Capital (RCap) only after getting all the legal and regulatory clearances, including from the Supreme Court, thus delaying the closure of the transaction. A source close to the development said that according to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) order dated February 27, the payment for the acquisition was to be made within 90 days from the NCLT's approval of the resolution plan and after receiving all legal and regulatory clearances.
Munich-based Allianz will explore new opportunities in the Indian insurance market not only as an investor but also as an operator, the company told Business Standard on Tuesday. "India will continue to be one of Allianz's main growth markets, and Allianz will explore new opportunities to further grow its participation in the Indian insurance market in the future, not only as an investor but also as an operator," the company said.
Gautam Adani-owned Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) will replace IT major Wipro in the 30-share BSE Sensex from June 24, according to an official announcement on Friday. This marks the first inclusion of any Adani Group firm in Sensex. The group has 10 listed firms with a combined market valuation surpassing Rs 17 lakh crore.
'Currently, our individual first premium would be in the Rs 3,000-Rs 3,200 crore range. We want to take that to about Rs 6,000 crore in three years.'
But selectively, with regulatory scrutiny and special approval, points out Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
The regulator has put a cap on the business a bank can get from a single insurer.
But, neither were the big companies interested in growing inorganically nor were the smaller ones ready to offer themselves for sale.
Inflow of more funds is likely to widen the reach of insurance and drive M&A activities in the sector where growth has stalled.
Buy from an established agent rather than a novice who may not be around when you need his assistance.
Top Indian private sector lender ICICI Bank, which owns nearly 68 percent of the insurer, is selling up to 181.34 million shares in the IPO.
