Ifc Hunts For Pension Firms Pie

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is out shopping to take equity stake in pension companies, which are waiting in the fray for the opening up the industry once the central government approves of the reforms.

IFC is talking to a number of private insurance players to identify which companies will be interested in venturing into the pension industry and whether the Indian partner would be interested in giving the World Bank arm a share from its 74 per cent holding.

Many of the new insurance players have shown interest in venturing into the pension market including ICICI Prudential Life, HDFC Standard Life, OM Kotak Mahindra Life, ING Vysya Life, SBI Life, Birla SunLife as well as the mutual fund joint venture IDBI Principal.

 

IFC is looking at taking about 10 per cent equity stake in a pension company, and will not restrict itself to just one, said industry sources. This will help the Indian promoters but is not expected to go down too well with foreign insurance companies.

Big insurance giants are unlikely to feel comfortable with IFC taking share in the pension ventures, as this could reduce the board representation by the foreign partner, said a senior insurance official representing the foreign promoter.