IPO guidelines for life insurers to be out in 10 days: Irda

The sector regulator Irda today said guidelines for initial public offer of life insurance companies will be out within the next 10 days.

"The IPO guidelines for life insurance companies should be out in next 10 days," Irda Chairman J Harinarayan told PTI.

In October last year, capital market regulator Sebi had given an approval to the insurance companies for coming out with a public float.

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority is likely to allow public float by only those companies, which are in business for at least 10 years and have a track record of three successive years of profit.

Several private sector insurers, including Reliance Life and HDFC Standard Life, have shown interest in tapping the capital market to augment their resource base.

Though HDFC Standard Life has completed 10 years of operations, Reliance Life does not meet this criteria.

As per the disclosure norms in offer document mandated by the Sebi, the insurers would have to come up with disclosure of risk factors specific to the companies.

Also, the offer document would have a glossary of terms used in the insurance sector.

Besides the state-owned Life Insurance Corporation, 22 private companies are offering life insurance policies.