Despite losses, insurance sector remains attractive for FDI

Insurance industry is still attractive to many investors even though many insurance companies are still making losses and the sector needs lot of trained personnel to cope up with growth, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority chairman TS Vijayan said on Wednesday.

The insurance watchdog said the FDI limit will be fixed by the government and the IRDA's job is to ensure that regulations are followed by the companies.

"Insurance is attracting the attention of the general public and investors are ready to put money even though many companies are still making loss," Vijayan said on the sidelines of a programme by Indian Institute of Risk Management.

Citing the example of Life Insurance Corporation of India, Vijayan said the government capital infusion into the company was only Rs 5 crore in 1956 when it was started.

"Lot of discussions are going on whether it is 26 per cent or 49 per cent FDI in insurance. The debate is happening ... "The purpose of bringing in the capital is more important," he said, hinting that more than bringing capital, other issues such as professionalism and skilled manpower are important for the growth of the sector.

The success of the recently launched Jan Dhan scheme by the Prime Minister is largely due to the insurance coverage attached to the bank account, Vijayan said.

There is huge potential for data analytics (for the sector) in India which has over 40 crore life insurance policies, he opined.