Don&rsquo;t be surprised if an insurance agent walks into your home with a &lsquo;tablet&rsquo; in his hand and offers a life insurance policy of your choice instantly, on a real-time basis. Tata AIG Life, to be renamed as Tata AIA Life, has developed a tool that would facilitate instant delivery of all kinds of life insurance policies.

Coming soon: Life insurance policies on a real-time basis

Business Standard

At a time when the Competition Commission of India has come down hard on 11 cement companies for what it termed &ldquo;price collusion&rdquo; and cartelisation, the finance ministry has asked the four government-owned general insurance companies to &ldquo;avoid any competition&rdquo; among them.

Finance ministry cover for PSU insurance 'cartel'

Insurers need to look beyond national boundaries and expand their operations abroad, Sudhin Roy Chowdhury, member (life) of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda), said on Friday.

Insurers must expand foreign operations: Irda

Insurance Australia Group is increasing its presence in Asia including India in a bid to generate 10 per cent of its business from the region within four years. IAG aims to generate 10 per cent of its gross written premium in Asia by 2016, according to the group's CEO Mike Wilkins.

IAG to increase presence in India as part of Asia strategy

Press Trust of India

An agent of a Mumbai-based private life insurance company was jolted when his employer asked him to refund a part of the commission he earned by selling life insurance policies.

Agents struck by commission-refund policy

In the draft guidelines on health insurance announced by Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irda) in May, the definition of health insurance was widened. According to the draft norms, travel, personal accident and critical illness covers would fall under the health insurance segment.

Irda widens health insurance net

To boost the micro insurance sector, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda) has proposed to allow broadening of the product portfolio and distribution network, by allowing more entities to sell the products.

Irda proposes broader micro insurance product

Life insurance companies will soon be allowed to tie up with non-life companies to offer health-plus-life combi products.

Irda to allow combo products

Amid concern on the slackening performance of state-owned insurance companies, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is set to meet the chiefs of these companies on June 13. The meeting would focus on the reasons behind the declining profits of these companies. Insurance companies are likely to raise issues related to taxation and the third-party motor pool.

FM to take stock as PSU insurers' profit dips 

After Future Capital, Kishore Biyani is getting ready to unlock value in his general insurance joint arm.

Anil Ambani eyes Biyani's general insurance venture

Give us time to digest what you&rsquo;re dishing out, the life insurance industry is trying to persuade the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda).

Slower waltz, life insurers ask Irda

Huge losses during 2011-12 have prompted GIC Re to go for a first: Start performance-based commissions to non-life insurers. The designated reinsurer in the country is offering commissions as low as five per cent if the underwriting practices and rates offered by the insurers are not satisfactory.

GIC Re links ceding fees to performance

The government on Wednesday pulled up state-run insurance companies over mounting losses, and asked them to reorganise their loss-making branches and open offices in small towns by the end of this month. It warned the insurers that growth in their top line cannot be at the cost of the bottom line.

Pranab pulls up insurance firms over mounting losses

Come October, the life insurance industry may be left with only a handful of products, as the regulator wants companies to &lsquo;refile&rsquo; all existing products according to its new product design guidelines.

Life insurance products may go missing from Oct

The finance ministry has asked the general insurance companies to do away with the policy of under-pricing the risks for the sake of getting larger business volume. It wants them to hike premium to the pre-detariff era to boost profitability and improve the combined ratios that are hovering around 120 per cent.

General insurers told to raise premiums

For the first time since September 2010, the life insurance industry managed to arrest the slide in premium collection in April-May.

Life insurance premium collection increases 1.4%

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda) has slapped a fine of Rs 1.47 crore on HDFC Life Insurance for violating norms pertaining to the commission paid to corporate agents and denial of death claims.

Irda slaps Rs 1.47-cr fine on HDFC Life for norm violation

SBI Life on Wednesday reported a 52 per cent rise in net profit to Rs 556 crore for the financial year ended march 31, 2012, as against Rs 366 crore reported in the corresponding a year ago. Total premium collected by the largest private life insurer in the country, during 2011-12 grew by one per cent to Rs 13,133 crore. This is largely due to new business premium, which was down by 13 per cent to Rs 6,531 crore.

SBI Life FY12 net up 52% to Rs 556 crore

The government appears to have buckled under political pressure, as the finance ministry is set to take a diluted version of the Insurance Bill to the Cabinet in the coming week.

Diluted Insurance Bill coming up

Dutch insurance major AEGON could be the next sectoral player to exit the country, after New York Life ended its joint venture with Max India last month.

AEGON may exit Religare venture

In a bid to make insurance a significant part of the ongoing financial inclusion initiatives in rural areas, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda) has come up with the concept of an &lsquo;everything product&rsquo; to address several risks of a typical household, with a single premium.

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