Irdai gets 5 applications for non-life, reinsurance biz

Regulator Irdai has received three applications for non-life business and two from reinsurance companies to start operations in India.
Currently, there are 24 companies each in life and non-life insurance spaces. Besides, there are six standalone health insurers and eight reinsurance companies in the country.
However, there is no application pending for any new life insurance company with the insurance regulator at present, a senior Irdai official said.
"We have received three applications for non-life insurance and two from reinsurance companies who want to set their shops within the country.
"We will be discussing their initial approvals during the board meeting of Irdai slated for later during the month," Irdai member (life, finance and accounts) Nilesh Sathe told PTI here today.

He was talking on the sidelines of an insurance summit organised by the National Insurance Academy.

Irdai has not received application from any new life insurance company so far, Sathe said.
He said the life insurance business is highly capital intensive and hence no new player is coming up to join the space.
According to Sathe, Irdai, headquartered in Hyderabad, will be shortly shifting to a new premises in the same city.
"The new corporate office of Irdai will be unveiled on November 27 and by December 1, we will start working from the new office," he said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to unveil the new six-storey building of the insurance regulator, he said.