Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India is confident of setting up its subsidiary in Singapore soon. “We need to clarify on many things and we are on the job. You will see us in Singapore soon,” its Managing Director, Mr A. K. Dasgupta, said, without specifying the timeframe.
It may be recalled that Singapore denied permission to the corporation to set up its subsidiary there until it had a credit rating from an international agency.
Clarifying this issue, Mr Dasgupta, who was recently in the city, said, “We have run into regulatory hurdles in establishing a subsidiary in Singapore. But we are a Government organisation and our holding structure and capital are different from that of other organisations. Conventional rating measures would therefore not be applicable for LIC, considering that our paid-up capital is only Rs 5 crore, and our financial strength is backed by the Government (every policy issued by the corporation is guaranteed by the Government).”
When asked to give a tentative time frame, he said, “Soon; as soon as we clarify such issues and get the approval”, adding “not years”.
The regulatory hurdle that the corporation encountered with the Singapore authorities would, however, not stand in the way of its entry into other overseas markets, Mr Dasgupta hinted, maintaining that the corporation would keep looking at opportunities to enter into newer geographies. “We are looking at quite a few,” he said, refusing to divulge more information.
He said the LIC's product offerings were not identical in the overseas locations where it was present.
On bancassurance tie-ups, he said “This is a relatively new channel which offers tremendous potential. At present, bancassurance accounts for only about 3 per cent of our total business volume. We intend to take it to 5 per cent by the end of the current fiscal.”
