One of the defining features of 2017 has been the public listing of five insurance companies, in life insurance and non-life insurance space. In the case of life insurance companies the markets responded positively and analysts worry that valuations are stretched largely due to market sentiments and the supply and demand gap. Amitabh Chaudhry, managing director and chief executive officer, HDFC Standard Life Insurance Co. Ltd—the insurer got listed last month-- talks to Mint Money about the potential for the industry to generate value in the future that justifies the valuation. Also being the chairman of the product committee that was constituted by Irdai to look into product reforms, he takes us through some of the key takeaways from the report that was published by Irdai on 14th December. Edited excerpts:
In January, the insurance regulator set up a committee to review existing product regulations, but the report took a long time to come out. Can you tell us why it took so long?
