Explore Business Standard
The Finance Ministry is considering an earlier proposal to merge the three state-owned general insurance companies into a single entity, following their improved financial health, to achieve better efficiency and scale. The government infused Rs 17,450 crore between 2019-20 and 2021-22 in three PSU general insurance companies, namely Oriental Insurance, National Insurance and United India Insurance, to bring them out of financial distress. In the Budget for 2018-19, the then finance minister Arun Jaitley announced that the three companies -- Oriental Insurance, National Insurance, and United India Insurance -- would be merged into a single insurance entity. However, the government dropped the idea in July 2020, and the Union Cabinet rather approved a capital infusion of Rs 12,450 crore into the three general insurance companies. As their finances have improved, the finance ministry is doing a preliminary assessment of the merger of these entities with a view to improving their ...
The government on Thursday appointed former Finance and Economic Affairs Secretary Ajay Seth as chairman of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI). The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved Seth's appointment as chairperson of the insurance regulator for a period of three years or till the incumbent attains the age of 65 years or until further orders, whichever is the earliest, a government notification said. Seth, a 1987-batch IAS officer of the Karnataka cadre, retired as Economic Affairs Secretary in June this year after a four-year stint. The appointment of IRDAI chairman comes nearly four months after the vacancy was created following Debasish Panda completing his term in March this year. As per the procedure for the appointment of regulators, the name is suggested by the Financial Sector Regulatory Appointments Search Committee (FSRASC) headed by the Cabinet Secretary. Based on interaction with eligible candidates, FSRASC recommends
Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) has reported a 14.60 per cent year-on-year (YoY) increase in individual premium in June 2025, higher than 12.12 per cent growth in premium income of private life insurers, Life Insurance Council data showed on Thursday. In June 2025, LIC collected Rs 5,313 crore in individual premium, compared to 25 private sector companies, which together accounted for Rs 8,408 crore. During the month of June 2025, total policies issued by LIC stood at 12.49 lakh from 14.65 lakh in the same period last year. In the individual policies category, LIC issued 12.48 lakh polices for June 2025 from 14.62 lakh policies in 2024, Group policies stood at 1,290 in the last month from 2,827 for June 2024. In group premium income, LIC earned Rs 22,087 crore, a 7 per cent decline over June last year. The private sector reported a degrowth of 19 per cent in group premium income at Rs 5,315 crore. The total premium income of LIC during the month declined 3.43 per cent to Rs 27,395
The Supreme Court has said insurance companies are not liable to pay compensation to the families of individuals who die as a result of their own rash and reckless driving. A bench of Justices PS Narasimha and R Mahadevan refused to grant 80 lakh compensation sought by the wife, son and parents of a man who died while driving a car at high speed. The top court refused to interfere with the Karnataka High Court's order dated November 23 last year which had dismissed the plea filed by the deceased legal heirs claiming compensation. "We are not inclined to interfere with the impugned judgment passed by the high court. Hence, the Special Leave Petition is dismissed," the bench said in an order passed on Wednesday. On June 18, 2014, one N S Ravisha was driving from Mallasandra village to Arasikere town when the accident took place. His father, sister and her children were travelling in the car. The court had found that Ravisha drove the car in a negligent manner without following traff