Metlife Plans To Raise Capital To Rs 450 Crore In 5 Years

MetLife India Insurance Company which launched its insurance products yesterday, plans to increase its capital by around Rs 325 crore to Rs 450 crore over a period of five years.

"Insurance sector is a capital-intensive industry and our expansion plan will need continuos flow of funds," MetLife India Insurance Company managing director Venkatesh S Mysore said.

Currently, the initial capital of the company is Rs 125 crore. He said MetLife plans to have separate products to address the rural segment. "Our association with Jammu & Kashmir Bank will help us to enter the rural market because of the bank's network," Mysore said.

Mysore said the company plans to recruit around 5,000 financial advisers over a period of time. He said the company was in talks with a couple of south-based banks for selling its products.

MetLife (Metropolitan Life Insurance Company) is the tenth private sector insurance company to enter the insurance market in the country.

While MetLife International Holdings Inc has 26 per cent stake in the company, the J&K Bank has 25 per cent stake, M Pallonji Group has 31 per cent stake and other individual investors consisting of Srini Raju, ISL Investments, Elpro Investments and another investor hold the rest.

Mysore said MetLife plans to introduce three policies initially which includes, limited pay whole life, money back assurance and endowment assurance. The company plans to sell around 15,000 policies during its first year of operations.

MetLife is the largest insurance company in the US with a $2 trillion of life insurance in force. It serves around 9 million individual households in the US and has operations in 14 countries.