Final norms for life insurers’ public offer likely by July end: IRDA

19 Jul 2011 Evaluate

The insurance sector watchdog - Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) on July 19 said the final guidelines to allow life insurance companies to raise funds from the capital market will be out by this month-end.  Last month, IRDA had released a set of draft guidelines for insurance companies to raise funds through public offers.

The IRDA Chairman, J Hari Narayan said, “With regard to life companies, the work on IPO guidelines is more or less complete and we would be going for gazetting the same as regulation very shortly, perhaps towards the end of this month,”

IRDA has done some important changes in the draft guidelines. It has removed the clause mandating a three-year track record of profitability as a pre-condition for tapping the capital markets. As per existing capital market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) norms, any company which proposes to come out with a public offer should have a three-year track record of profits.

“As regards non-life companies, there is little more work to be done and that may take 2-3 months,” he said. As per the draft norms, insurance companies which have finished 10 years of operation and have strong financials will be allowed to raise money from capital market. The insurance firms planning for public offers have to seek formal approval from IRDA and then approach SEBI for final approval, the draft norms said.

As part of the eligibility criteria, the insurance company should have maintained the prescribed regulatory solvency margin during the preceding six quarters, draft said. In addition, the insurance company should have embedded the value of at least twice its paid-up equity capital, the draft guidelines had said, by adding further it says that the insurance company should be fully compliant with the corporate governance guidelines issued by IRDA.

Narayan said IRDA will come out with a standard definition of critical illness for health insurance purposes within the next 2-3 months. On the issue of Indian insurer investing in Indian Depository Receipts, he said, “An IDR is essentially investment abroad and according to the Insurance Act, money should be invested in India. There is a legal matter which we are examining.”

© 2026 The Alchemists Ark Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved. MoneyWorks4Me ® is a registered trademark of The Alchemists Ark Pvt. Ltd.

×