PSU general insurers to meet FinMin on rural infra fund morrow

Heads of state-owned non-life insurers will be meeting financial services secretary G S Sandhu tomorrow to discuss how they can provide cover to the assets being created by the Rs 5,000-crore rural infrastructure development fund announced in the Budget.
A senior official of a general insurance company told PTI that the meeting is likely to take stock of the state-run insurers' readiness to extend cover to these assets to be created under the aegis of the Nabard and also how they will be strengthening their micro offices across the country.
The largest state-owned non-life insurer New India Assurance is currently having 1,000 micro offices and is working on further strengthening its presence in tier-II and III cities.

The meeting is also likely to explore the option of adopting a banking correspondent model, as is being done in the banking sector for financial inclusion, into the general insurance space to increase their penetration, the official said seeking not to be quoted.
The Budget presented by finance minister Arun Jaitley on July 10 announced a Rs 5,000 crore fund, to be allocated to Nabard for low-cost housing and rural infrastructure development.