Some smart moves and course corrections have helped ICICI Prudential turn profitable.
Invest with a 5 to 7 year horizon so that you are able to ride out price volatility and benefit from the long-term trends of demand and macroeconomic shifts.
The share of life insurance policies sold by top private insurers in the rural areas declined in the financial year 2023-24 (FY24) compared to previous year. SBI Life, HDFC Life, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance -- the top three players from the private sector-- have seen the share of insurance policies sold in rural areas drop in FY24 as compared to the previous financial year. Max Life Insurance's share of rural policies recorded an increase in FY24.
'The problem is that the bubble may not only be in valuations, but also in investors' minds.'
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday directed banks and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) offering gold loans to thoroughly review their policies, processes, and practices to identify any gaps. The central bank also told them to closely monitoring their gold loan portfolios amid significant growth observed in this segment vis--vis some lenders. Additionally, the RBI, through a circular, instructed these lenders to ensure adequate controls over outsourced activities and third-party service providers.
India's second-largest passenger vehicles firm will be valued at Rs 1.59 trillion at the top-end of the price band of Rs 1,865-Rs 1,960.
After life insurance, DLF Ltd is foraying into asset management by offering local and global mutual funds through a joint venture with Prudential Financial Inc of the United States.
The Rs 84,000 crore domestic fund of funds (FoFs) space, which was in the doldrums over the past 18 months, has now caught the attention of investors due to a change in the tax structure in Budget 2024. The broader category, which includes offerings across equity, debt and commodities, has seen a spike in the inflows over the past two months. FoFs typically deploy the pooled capital in one or multiple MF schemes rather than investing directly into equities, debt or commodities.
Prudential, the leading international financial services company, would hire at least 10,000 new staff in India this year for its joint venture insurance operation.
Equity-focused schemes may perform better in a bull market, while debt-oriented ones may offer greater stability during volatile periods.
Prudential has two JVs with ICICI Bank in the country, one in insurance business with 26 per cent stake and another in the mutual fund business with 49 per cent equity. While asserting that the two businesses were well-capitalised and did not need any immediate capital infusion, Tucker said Prudential was open to consider raising its stake in the insurance JV as and when the regulatory framework permitted the same.
Commissions paid to mutual fund distributors (MFDs) increased by over 20 per cent for most large fund houses in 2023-24 (FY24), driven by a sharp market rally and strong inflows. The largest fund house, SBI Mutual Fund (MF), which now manages nearly Rs 10 trillion in assets, paid Rs 2,025 crore to its major distributors - 21 per cent higher than the Rs 1,675 crore payout in 2022-23 (FY23).
'It's advisable not to go overboard on a banking sector fund or any other sector fund.'
The life insurance arm of the country's largest private-sector lender does it not to expand workforce, but to maintain its strength, as almost a similar number of staffers keeps leaving every month.
rediffGURU Dev Ashish answers your personal finance and mutual fund queries.
Out of six finals played, India have won three World titles, including two ODI World Cups (1983 and 2011) and one T20 World Cup in 2007.
'A possible post-election growth momentum may be lost.'
Prudential, the second biggest British insurance group, on Thursday announced that it might axe 2,000 jobs in the UK and 1,000 jobs in India to reduce costs despite posting a pre-tax net profit of 1.98 billion in 2006.
Mutual funds' largecap investment universe is expected to see seven changes in the upcoming stock reclassification exercise by the Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi). According to a report by IIFL Securities, Hero MotoCorp, Zydus Lifesciences, JSW Energy, NHPC, Bharat Heavy Electricals, Bosch and Samvardhana Motherson are expected to earn upgrades in the revised list of largecap, midcap and smallcap stocks set to be released in the first week of July. Amfi revises the list at the start of January and July every year based on the previous six-month performance of the stock.
Concerned over household savings moving towards alternative investment avenues, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das on Thursday asked banks to mobilise deposits through innovative products and services by leveraging their vast branch network. "Banks are taking greater recourse to short-term non-retail deposits and other instruments of liability to meet the incremental credit demand. "This, as I emphasised elsewhere, may potentially expose the banking system to structural liquidity issues," he said.
PIDP follows a bottom-up stock-picking strategy and prefers to invest in companies that have the potential to compound their cash flows over the years
In a bid to tap the growing potential of mutual fund business in the country, ICICI Bank has decided to raise its stake in Prudential ICICI Asset Management Company to 51 per cent, by buying out six per cent stake from Prudential Plc.
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.
India's financial sector is dominated by large government-owned and private-sector banks.
'In phases when smaller stocks do well, an equal-weight index performs better than its market cap-weighted peer.'
Younger people, who usually have a longer investment horizon which allows them to handle the interim volatility, may go for them.
With more players, products and rising consciousness about the need for insurance, the market has to grow. As for the team, the existing management team continues (at ICICI Prudential) to be there. The team has built a solid business, an excellent brand. The systems are in place, so it is a good stepping stone, says Vaidyanathan.
'We found certain banks having lakhs of such accounts with apparently no valid reason.'
India start as the big favourites in both the white ball series and it will take a Herculean effort from Sri Lanka to upset the odds.
'The real repo rate is very high in terms of core inflation.'
Midcap stocks Hero MotoCorp, Zydus Lifesciences, JSW Energy, NHPC, Bharat Heavy Electricals, Bosch, and Samvardhana Motherson are expected to earn upgrades.
Federal Bank on Thursday said the Reserve Bank of India has accorded approval to ICICI Prudential Asset Management Company Ltd () for acquiring up to 9.95 per cent stake in the bank. RBI accorded the approval subject to conditions on Thursday, Federal Bank said in a regulatory filing.
State-backed Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) recorded strong growth in the value of new business (VNB) margin in the third quarter of financial year 2023-24 (Q3FY24) while major listed private life insurers reported a weak performance. VNB refers to the profit that an insurer is likely to garner from new business, which comes from policies sold in a particular period. VNB margin is the profit margin of the insurer.
However, three of the policy's four funds have been performing below the benchmarks, for the last two years.
'The structural story of India is a multi-decadal story.' 'One should stay invested in that story and avoid reacting to what is happening globally.'
rediffGURU Ramalingam Kalirajan answers your personal finance queries.
Unperturbed by election uncertainty, investors poured record sums into equity mutual fund (MF) schemes in May, driving India closer to a $5 trillion market capitalisation. The Rs 34,697 crore net inflows into actively managed equity funds last month surpassed the previous high of Rs 28,463 crore recorded in March 2022. In April 2024, equity schemes had garnered nearly Rs 19,000 crore.
Director of the scam-tainted Prudential Co-operative Urban Bank, Krishna Kumar died in judicial custody on Saturday morning after complaining of chest pain, police said.
All the four listed private life insurance companies recorded a drop in value of new business (VNB) margin in the financial year 2023-24 (FY24) as compared to FY23. This is because of a higher share of unit-linked insurance plans (Ulips) in the product mix. VNB is a measure of the economic value of profits expected to emerge from a new business.
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