'Size of insurance firm vital to fix exposure cap'

T S Vijayan added the proposed financial code would eliminate the grey areas that existed in the Indian financial sector

Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda) Chairman T S Vijayan today said while dealing with individual insurance companies on issues such as fixing the cap on investing in a single entity, the size of assets would be considered.

"The regulator is here to provide a level playing field for all companies. But that doesn't mean a Rs 1,000-crore company has to be treated on a par with a company with a Rs 2.5-lakh-crore asset base, on every issue," Vijayan said, responding to a question on the 'differential treatment' to Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), which he headed earlier. Last year, the Union finance ministry had allowed LIC equity exposure of up to 30 per cent in a single company. Vijayan's predecessor at Irda, J Hari Narayan, had questioned the move.

Vijayan said before he had assumed office on February 21, Hari Narayan had already addressed the issue by allowing different threshold limits to insurers, based on their asset bases.

He said he favoured a thorough debate on the Indian Financial Code, which proposed a unified regulatory mechanism, instead of seven different regulators for different segments of the financial sector. He added the proposed financial code would eliminate the grey areas that existed in the Indian financial sector.

Earlier, at a seminar on the recommendations of the Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission, Vijayan said efforts should be made to bring in the proposed financial code within a meaningful time frame.