Lloyd’s, World’s Largest Re-Insurance Marketplace, Opens India Branch
Lloyd's of London became the first foreign re-insurer to enter the Indian market as it opened a branch in Mumbai.
Lloyd's India will act as a domestic re-insurance branch of Lloyd's of London, a company statement said. It will focus on infrastructure, agriculture and disaster management re-insurance, the statement said. Shankar Garigiparthy will lead the domestic operations as chief executive offer and country manager.
The company has signed up MS Amlin as an underwriter, while more insurers registered with Lloyd's are expected to join. The number of such managing agents entering the onshore Indian market through Lloyd's will be in “low single figure” in the first year or two of operations, said John Frederick Nelson, chairman of Lloyd's of London in an interview to BloombergQuint.
India's insurance sector is opening up. Last year, the government relaxed foreign direct investment norms for the insurance sector, allowing companies to hold up to 49 percent stake in domestic insurers. State-run General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC Re) was the only operational re-insurer in India until now.
Lloyd's received the final approval from the Insurance Regulatory Development Authority of India (IRDAI) to open a domestic branch in November. The approval prompted more foreign players, including Swiss Re, SCOR SE, Hannover Re and Munich Re, to successfully seek a clearance from the IRDAI.
The regulator expects the other foreign insurers to roll out operations in the first six to nine months of the year, according to a report by wire agency PTI.
While the IRDAI guidelines allow foreign reinsurance companies to set up a branch and operations in India, government-owned GIC has the right of first refusal for any business they get. Nelson admitted that more Lloyd's managing agents would probably have committed to entering the Indian market if it wasn't for this stipulation.
(The right of first refusal to GIC)... is in some ways a disincentive. We don't have a level-playing field, and in most of the rest of the world there is. We are talking to the regulator and the government about the merits of a level-playing field. And I think that in principle they are being very receptive to what we and our other international reinsurance competitors are sayingJohn Frederick Nelson, Chairman, Lloyd's of London
How Lloyd's Works
Lloyd's, unlike insurance companies, is a marketplace which facilitates business between entities who want their risk covered and those who provide such covers. The sellers, called syndicates, are investors ready to underwrite risks for a premium. Its uniqueness is the ability to provide handcrafted policies for very specific cover requirements, that are hard to come by in the commercial market.
-
Unhedged Position: Can India See An Indonesia-Style Time Correction?
The Nifty is trading below levels it first clocked in 2024. Is there, then, as I have suggested in the headline, potential that the current time correction drags on painfully for the next three-five, even ten years?
-
Navigating Friction And Energy Realities: An Analysis Of Marco Rubio's October Visit To India
Occurring at a critical juncture marked by stalled trade negotiations and escalating geopolitical pressures over global energy supplies, the visit offers a profound window into modern US-India relations.
-
India Exports Capital. Why Not Export Trusteeship?
The big question, then, is whether India can build an institution that global borrowers, investors, banks, and lawyers can trust, even without an Indian connection.
-
France's Economy & Politics Are In Crisis | The Reason Why
Let's look at how the French economy and politics evolved under Nicolas Sarkozy, Franois Hollande and Emmanuel Macron.
-
You May Inherit The Business. You Must Earn Its Credibility.
Succession tests the founder's ability to share authority as much as it tests the next generation's readiness to assume it.
-
Signing Deals Is One Thing; Making Them Work Is Another | The Week In Whys
Sometimes, things don't turn out as planned. Indian companies have lost some bids to rivals, some projects won't produce until 2030.
-
FOMC Wall, PERM Suspension, Hospital Stocks | Talking Points This Week
A PERM suspension would directly affect green-card sponsorship rather than H-1B visas, so the near-term earnings impact could remain relatively limited. The key question is whether this marks a new phase in US scrutiny of Indian IT.
-
Everything, Everywhere, All At Once: Dalal Street's Week To Forget | Joining The Dots
Visa curbs, a Starlink spat and cancer drug caps: what connects this week's shocks for Indian markets
-
India Is Going Abroad For Critical Minerals. But It May Take Years To Pay Off | The Reason Why
Although India's steps are in the right direction, they remain modest compared with India's growing dependence.
-
When Everyone Has AI, What Gives You An Edge?
India's young workforce is entering an uncertain world of work where powerful AI tools are becoming widely accessible. The advantage will belong to those who combine deep expertise with digital fluency, and the distinctly human capabilities that technology cannot manufacture.
