Nirmala Sitharaman, Union Finance Minister

Lloyd’s is evaluating its options for setting up in GIFT City. The summit jointly organised by IFSCA and IRDAI has allowed the market to engage with the two regulators and obtain clarification on a number of areas, said Shankar Gargiparthy, country manager and CEO, India, Lloyd’s of London

Mumbai:

Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has affirmed the government’s commitment  to develop India as global reinsurance hub by providing holistic policy supports to propel growth of the re/insurance industry in the country.

Sitharaman, who couldn’t address the `IFSCA-IRDAI GIFT IFSC Global Reinsurance Summit’ in person in Mumbai on Thursday, in her message said the government wants greater penetration of the insurance industry in the country and will ensure ease of doing business for the players.

Gujarat International Finance Tec-City(GIFT City) is India’s first operational smart city and International Financial Services Centre(IFSC) and houses the International Financial Services Centre Authority (IFSCA).

With a comprehensive set of 13 regulations, covering reinsurance, non-life and life segments, the one-day summit was jointly organised by the International Financial Services Centre Authority (IFSCA), the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) and GIFT City, to woo global re/insurers to set up operations in the GIFT City.

“We want to know, why further re/insurance investments are not happening in the GIFT City. We want industry’s feedback on this ,’’ said Vivek Joshi, secretary, Department of financial services.

Debasish Panda, chairman IRDAI and K. Rajaraman, Chairman, IFSCA also graced the occasion and shared their insights on the initiatives taken by the Government of India, IFSCA and IRDAI including the regulatory ecosystem in GIFT IFSC to promote ease of doing business and make it a reinsurance hub.

Today, India is the 10^th largest insurance market and the second  largest emerging insurance market. Ayushman Bharat, the world’s largest health insurance scheme, launched by the government is now covering almost 400 million people, noted Sitharaman.

“ We want the Indian insurance industry to provide better customer service, attain better productivity  and launch innovative products in the country,’’ said Sitharaman adding that the insurance industry should position itself sustainably in the domestic competitive environment to achieve global resiliency.

Siddartha Mohanty, chairman, Life Insurance Corporation(LIC), said though the corporation has operations in 14 countries, he would like LIC to target 30 million Indian diaspora through GIFT City operations.

“We will have different products offered from Gift city to the Indian diaspora,’’ he said.

Ramaswamy Narayanan, CMD, GIC  Re said the reinsurer wants to centralise its inward operations, generating over Rs 11,000 crore of premium from overseas markets, in the Gift City.

“Work is in progress to centralise our inward operations in the IFSC,’’ he said.

Currently, GIC Re also does its direct aviation business from the IFSC and also had earlier shifted its Middle East operations to the location. Its operations in the GIFT City generates around Rs 500 crore premium annually.

Lloyd’s is evaluating its options for setting up in GIFT City. The summit jointly organised by IFSCA and IRDAI has allowed the market to engage with the two regulators and obtain clarification on a number of areas, said Shankar Gargiparthy, country manager and CEO, India, Lloyd’s of London.

“We will continue to engage with the two regulators to address some of the issues, which when addressed, will enable Lloyd’s underwriters to add value to the growing Indian market,’’ he said

Swiss Re sources said the second largest global reinsurer is watching the spectrum of positive developments at  the GIFT City and is examining the pros and cons of a possible decision to set up operations there.

Another FRB(Foreign Reinsurance Branch)  CEO said that the reinsurance regulations globally are changing and focus has shifted unfortunately from being global to domesticated.

In this context, India presents a great opportunity and IFSCA offers some great advantages, he said.

“India’s IFSCA in the GIFT City is evolving well and moving in the right direction towards becoming a reinsurance  hub,’’ he added.

Hansmukh Adhia, chairman, GIFT City, said plans are afoot not only to offer larger regulatory advantages but also social and other infrastructure amenities, including schools, hospitals and residential complexes, to attract more players to set up operations and make the city their home.

“We are in discussion with the insurance regulator IRDAI and we had appointed a consultant to suggest us about the new measures to attract more players into the GIFT City. They will be submitting their  report shortly and we will implement its recommendations in all areas,’’ he said.

GIFT City currently has eight insurers and over 20 intermediaries within its premises.

The summit was attended by business leaders from insurance and reinsurance sector, consultants, brokers, lawyers, academic institutions, associations and other relevant stakeholders