Insurance

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In his address to the IRDA board of directors, the Finance Minister had plenty of advice for the regulator and industry to grow the business.

Life insurance industry head honchos feel that the ministry must review the tax norms announced in the budget.

The life insurers think that it will help the industry to report positive growth.

Public players report higher collection than private players for the month of February 2012.

The budget has made things more difficult for insurance agents as many money-back policies will be taxable from the next financial year.

The authority has modified some guidelines of reporting the business generated through bancassurance channel. Insurers have to abide by them from March 31, 2012.

Premium has to be 10% of sum assured to avail tax benefits, service tax hiked to 12%

IRDA has directed insurers to appoint new agents for servicing orphaned policies.

General insurance players have reported a stable increase in the last ten months.

Life insurance players are facing a tough time in increasing their business. They are eager to ramp up their distribution network by empanelling CFPs.

Big insurers face difficulty in increasing individual premiums, say industry experts.

Insurers feel it will take minimum five month to report a rise in recruitment figures.

At the 14th Global Conference of Actuaries J Hari Narayan, IRDA Chairman reportedly stated that IRDA feels that certain provisions in the Direct Tax Code (DTC) are not in the best interest of the industry.

Life insurance players report 20 percent increase in sale through these channels.