Insurance law changes set to benefit global parents of JVs

Global insurers such as Generali and Ageas, which have already raised their stakes in Indian ventures to the maximum 74% allowed for foreigners, stand to gain from draft amendments to insurance laws that propose scrapping key curbs. The changes, which were proposed as draft on August 29 and are to be tabled in Parliament, ease conditions imposed in 2021 when the foreign direct investment (FDI) cap was lifted from 49% to 74%. At the time, insurers with foreign shareholding above 49% and a solvency margin below 180% were required to retain half their net profits in reserves before declaring dividends. In addition, half of their boards had to comprise independent directors, or one-third if the chairman was independent. Read Article