Page 14 - Insurance Times December 2021

Private Life Insurance

News

Private insurers give amounting to Rs. 12,948.98 crore of life insurer and its ranking moved up
which 93.57 per cent by volume and from 12 to 10," said BoB MD & CEO
thumbs up to PB Fintech 85.42 per cent by value were settled. Sanjiv Chadha. "We are very invested
Private life insurers made a beeline to
In FY21, the industry received 22,205 in the business." Chadha confirmed
participate in the anchor investor such claims worth Rs. 1,644.56 crore, that an IPO was one of the routes
segment of the IPO of PB Fintech, being considered.
which amounted to 0.3 per cent of
which operates online insurance
total premium income of the year. Of
marketplace Policybazaar and credit these, 21,854 death claims amounting Shriram Group closing in
comparison portal Paisabazaar.
to Rs. 1,492.02 crore were settled.
This reflects the optimism that private While the death claims have not had on merger, insurance biz to
life insurers have in the future an impact on the solvency of the be hived off into separate
prospects of the online marketplace insurers, it has dented their entity
model that PB Fintech had adopted,
profitability. Shriram Group has revived plans to
said capital market experts. Eleven
insurance companies made a demand Insurers have been keeping excess restructure its various financial
of $40 million in the anchor round that mortality reserves and the extra services businesses that includes
took place, sources close to the provisioning has resulted in muted lending and insurance by collapsing its
development said. profitability for most, especially in the two listed units into one and reverse
April-June quarter (Q1FY22), when the merging the holding company into it,
Life insurers pay out Rs. second wave hit. while spinning out insurance into a
separate entity, said multiple people
11000 crore in Covid-19 Bank of Baroda plans to aware of the developments. The group

death claims list life arm in next fiscal however denied any such
Life Insurers have so far shelled out Rs. Bank of Baroda is considering an initial development, calling it speculation.
11,060.5 crore to settle Covid-related public offer (IPO) of its insurance arm Morgan Stanley and ICICI Securities are
death claims, a huge chunk of which IndiaFirst Life in the next financial year. advising Shriram Capital, the unlisted
came this financial year when the BoB holds a 44% stake in IndiaFirst holding company of the group. The
second wave ravaged through the proposed reorganisation, if approved
with Union Bank and Carmel Point
country, data compiled by Life Investment (Warburg Pincus) 30% and by a majority of minority shareholders
Insurance Council - a representative 25% respectively. and regulators, will lead to a simplified
body of the insurers - has revealed. corporate structure and allow its
"Life insurance had a bit of a rough ride investors- billionaire Ajay Piramal and
As of October 21, life insurers settled during Covid, but this company has TPG Capital -an exit from the privately
a little over 130,000 Covid-19 related continued to perform very well. In the held entity.
death claims. About 140,000 Covid- last quarter, it was the fastest-growing
related claims have been made so far,

14 The Insurance Times, December 2021