IRDA issues IPO norms for life insurers

02 Dec 2011 Evaluate

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) cleared the way for life insurance companies to raise capital via Initial Public Offering (IPO) or subsequent public fund raising from stock market. 

The IPO guidelines have been formed in consultation with capital market watchdog Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). However, the life insurance firms interested in IPO will have to take IRDA’s approval followed by SEBI’s permission. The offer document will have to list out the risk factors specific to the insurance sector.

IRDA notified that the life insurance companies who have completed 10 years of operations only can raise money from the market. Till now, only four life insurance companies such as ICICI Prudential, SBI, HDFC and Kotak Mahindra have completed 10 years.

The companies should have satisfactory regulatory record and governance and must have maintained a solvency margin of 150% or 1.5 times of their liabilities. The firms must have an embedded value of at least twice the paid up equity capital. The final guidelines also make mandatory for the insurers to get the embedded value prepared by an independent actuarial expert and reviewed by another actuary. This will be important for the insurers as there are not many actuary firms in India.

The life insurance firms have been waiting for the IPO norms for quite some time and have welcomed the move from regulator, as the IPO norms are in accordance with the market expectations. In past several firms has expressed their desire to come out with IPO, depending upon the regulations issued by IRDA. The life insurance industry is a capital-intensive business and most private insurance companies are facing financial crunch from their promoters in investing further capital into the business.

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

×