An old year has ended and a new year has begun. Milestones 2009 recaptures the mood of the insurance industry at the close of the year 2008 and beginning of the year 2009.
Every month it goes on to highlight the stories of each issue that best summed up the state of the industry. In conclusion the story of the Year is told through Numbers.

Following rising claims ratios and losses suffered by General insurance companies, which is as high as 170 per cent of the premium collected, the General insurance industry is working on increasing premium rates on third party liability for commercial vechicles (CVs,) according to media reports. The General Insurance Council has been approached by General insurance [...]

Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) is considering allowing Life insurance companies to invest part of policyholders’ funds in equity derivatives, a move that would allow these firms to balance the risks emanating from cash markets, according to media reports. Equity derivative is a financial contract whose value is derived from the estimated future price [...]

December’s cover story on ‘The Decade of Transformation’ elicits opinion from institution heads. These institutions are the Life and General Insurance Councils, two educational training institutions Insurance Institute of India and Financial Planning Standard Boards and the National Federation of Insurance Field Workers of India and the Life Insurance Agents Federation of India representing agents.

The General Insurance Council of India (GIC) of India is planning to seek the help of the regional transport offices (RTOs) to keep a check on uninsured vehicles on the roads, a media report quoted Mr S L Mohan, Secretary General, GIC, saying. “It is not the new insurance policies which the GIC is worried [...]

Cholamandalam MS General Insurance Company is part of the Chennai headquartered Murugappa Group with major presence in engineering, abrasives, sugar and agricultural and farm inputs.  It is a joint venture with the Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Group, the second-largest insurance group in Japan. Mr S S Gopalarathnam, a Cost and Management Accountant by qualification, joined the [...]

‘Assets Side Needs Urgent Attention’ Health insurance, a prudent solvency regime and what needs to be done to safeguard the investment of policyholders’ funds in the insurance industry. These were the concerns of Dr R Kannan, Member (Actuary,) Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) at this point. Dr Kannan who has held this position since [...]

Insurance Bill : Reforms, Part II “Foreign shareholding ceiling in Indian insurance companies proposed to be increased from 26 per cent to 49 per cent.” If you got the impression that this was the one point agenda of the Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2008, it is a wrong impression. The Bill was tabled in Rajya [...]