Canara HSBC OBC Life Insurance to get Rs 100 cr cap infusion
Press Trust of India / New Delhi Sep 26, 2010, 12:23 IST
Aiming to increase its new premium income by 50 per cent, Canara Bank, HSBC Insurance and OBC will infuse another Rs 100 crore in their life insurance venture this fiscal to fund expansion.
The company will launch one or two Ulip schemes and one traditional scheme over the next few months, but does not have any immediate plan for a pension product, Canara HSBC OBC Life Insurance CEO Harpal Karlcut told PTI here.
"Currently our capital base is Rs 725 crore. Our three shareholders will infuse another Rs 100 crore during the current fiscal," he said.
The life insurer is aiming at 50 per cent growth in new business premium.
"We are expecting a 50 per cent growth in new premium income during the current fiscal. Last fiscal, we had a new premium income of Rs 640 crore," Karlcut said.
The company had clocked a 189 per cent growth in gross written premiums at Rs 861.3 crore in the last fiscal.
The company is owned by Canara Bank (holding 51 per cent) and Oriental Bank of Commerce (23 per cent) and HSBC Insurance (Asia Pacific) Holdings (26 per cent).
As per its expansion plans, the life insurer is planning to launch three products by December.
"We are aiming to launch 1-2 more Ulip products and also one traditional product targeting the rural market in the next three months," Karlcut said.
However, the life insurer said it would not bring any pension product immediately and is currently studying the new rules formulated by insurance regulator Irda.
With effect from September 1, India's life insurance industry transited to a new era of transparent and investor friendly unit-linked insurance plans (Ulips).
The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda) has capped various Ulip charges, increased their lock-in period and mandated a minimum guarantee of returns from such plans, which are hybrid products that combine the features of insurance and investment in equities.
The company has already launched three products - one traditional endowment plan and two Ulips in line with the new regulatory guidelines.
The two Ulips - Canara HSBC OBC Life Grow Smart Plan and Canara HSBC OBC Life Dream Smart Plan are equipped with investment friendly features and provide flexibility to the customers to increase or decrease life cover.
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Aiming to increase its new premium income by 50 per cent, Canara Bank, HSBC Insurance and OBC will infuse another Rs 100 crore in their life insurance venture this fiscal to fund expansion.
