No plan to take general insurance cos public: FinMin
31 Aug 2015 6:34 AM IST
Even as the new insurance law has an enabling provision for allowing five public sector general insurers to go public, the government has no plans at present to dilute its stake in them.
"As of now there is no plan to list any of the general insurance companies," Financial Services Secretary Hasmukh Adhia, who will take over Revenue Secretary from next month, said.
The new Insurance Act allows the government to disinvest its stake in five general insurance companies -- New India Assurance, United India Insurance, National Insurance, Oriental Insurance and sole reinsurer GIC Re.
However, the new law keeps Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) out of this ambit <g data-gr-id="27">and therefore</g> will continue to be a 100 <g data-gr-id="23">per cent</g> state-owned company.
"All the four state-owned general insurance companies are well-capitalised and they don't need capital through IPOs," chairman and managing director of a public sector general insurance company said.
Analysts believe the government which has disinvested in all the state-owned banks may exercise the same option for state-owned general insurers <g data-gr-id="25">some time</g> later.
"None of these companies, except one or two, has financials which can really enthuse investors to pick up stake in these companies. All of them continue to have large underwriting losses and low on profitability," a market analyst said.
However, New India Assurance, which is the largest general insurer, has said the call has to be taken by the government.
"It is up to the government to take a call. We haven't heard anything from them," New India Assurance chairman and managing director G Srinivasan had said while announcing the June quarter results recently.
Moves draft Cabinet note to incentivise e-payments
Consumers and merchants can look forward to a host of incentives such as fee waivers and tax benefits on cashless payments, for which a draft Cabinet note has been circulated by the Finance Ministry.
The proposal would be presented before the Union Cabinet after Finance Ministry incorporates comments and suggestions made by various ministries and departments on the Draft that contains as many as 30 measures to encourage the e-payments.
The note has already incorporated the public feedback on a draft proposal for facilitating electronic transactions, which was put up in the public domain in June and suggestions were invited through the government’s MyGov.in <g data-gr-id="57">platform</g>.
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