BIG BOYS FOR BIG FUND WILL BE NAMED NEXT WEEK

New Delhi: The list of private sector companies to manage Rs 2,40,000-crore Employees Provident Fund (EPF) is likely to be cleared at the upcoming Central Board of Trustees meeting, scheduled to be held next week.

The board, chaired by labour and employment minister Oscar Fernandes, will decide the final names from those who cleared the two-step process of technical and financial bids. The board — with representatives from ten employees’ organisations, ten employers’ organisations, central and state governments, apart from EPFO Central Provident Fund Commissioner — has to decide on a minimum of three fund managers to handle EPF corpus.

Ten firms had cleared technical bids, including Reliance, HDFC, ICICI Prudential, Templeton, HSBC, the Tatas, the UTI subsidiary, SBI and PNB. Of these ten, a few have already been shortlisted on the basis of clearing financial bids, a source told The Indian Express.

Refusing to divulge the names of these firms, the source said that the final list would be based on the board’s stringent evaluation of firms in the fray. The EPF board’s finance and investment committee met and pruned the list of ten fund managers.

Till now, SBI was solely managing the entire EPF corpus. With this move, its monopoly will end. The government last year decided to diversify the funds and appoint private sector companies after it expressed its unhappiness with SBI’s fund management. It was dissatisfied with sub-optimal investments by SBI and held it responsible for lower returns on its large portfolio.

Source: The Indian Express

FARMERS ADVISED TO GET INSURANCE COVER

Nagapattinam: Farmers in the Cauvery delta region of Thanjavur, Nagapattinam and Tiruvarur districts should get proper insurance cover for the current kuruvai paddy crop in time before the expiry date with the dwindling water resources for cultivation this year.
All who have availed loans or not would be insulated from any adverse impact if they get insurance cover in time, said S. Ranganathan, a progressive farmer and General Secretary of the Cauvery Delta Farmers’ Welfare Association, on Thursday.

Decreasing level
Mr. Ranganathan told The Hindu that the water level in the Mettur reservoir had come down to about 60 feet against the full tank level of 120 feet and the water available in the dam would be suffice only for 10 days.

Monsoon truant
The southwest monsoon is playing truant and is still weak in the catchment areas.
This is a serious cause of worry for the farmers who have ventured in a big way to take up the short-term kuruvai paddy cultivation.

Rains in some parts
He pointed out that it was gratifying that at least some part of Tamil Nadu was getting good rains and advised the farmers to get proper insurance cover for the kuruvai crop.

Source: The Hindu

‘MERGE INSURANCE COMPANIES’

Salem: Salem unit of Coimbatore Region General Insurance Employees’ Association urged the Union government to initiate immediate steps to merge the four public sector general insurance companies.

Members of the association adopted a resolution to this effect at the annual general body meeting of the unit held here recently. In another resolution, members appealed to the government to withdraw the compulsory transfer policy and fill up all the vacancies immediately. T. Ganapathi was elected president of the unit during the meeting. M. Karupaiah was elected as Secretary and K. Mailvelu as Treasurer.

Source: The Hindu

INSURERS WAIT FOR FDI HIKE

New Delhi: Max New York Life Insurance chairman, Mr Analjit Singh, said on Thursday that passing of the insurance bill, which seeks to raise the FDI limit, will be a positive development for the industry.

The finance minister, Mr P. Chidambaram had said on Wednesday that centre will try to push the reform process forward and will try to pass the insurance bill. The bill proposes to raise the foreign investment ceiling for insurers to 49 per cent from 26 per cent.

"There are many second tier insurance companies in which the Indian partners are not so active as the foreign partners. If the FDI limit is increased, the foreign companies will make these firms more effective by increasing their stake," Mr Singh said after launching a new life insurance scheme ‘Max Vijay’ for the rural India. He said that there are various international insurance companies which are waiting for the bill to get pass before coming to India. "This will increase the competition which will be a good thing," said Mr Singh.

He said that there is a huge opportunity for growth as the penetration of the insurance companies is very low. "We want the insurance bill to get passed in this tenure of the government. We have been waiting for this from last four to five years," said Mr Singh.

Source: The Pioneer, Asian Age

`WE HAVE NO LISTING PLANS FOR NOW`: ANALJIT SINGH, CHAIRMAN, MNYL

New Delhi: Even as competition in the insurance sector is on the rise, Max New York Life Insurance Co, one of the top five private life insurance firms in India, has announced plans to tap the financially weaker segments of the country through a new insurance and savings scheme called Max Vijay. On the sidelines of the launch of Max Vijay, Analjit Singh, chairman of Max India, spoke to Joe C Mathew and Prashant Sahu about the company's future plans. Excerpts:

Will the government's proposed plans to raise the foreign direct investment (FDI) limit from 26 per cent to 49 per cent impact Max India?

It will allow New York Life to exercise an option to increase its equity stake in Max New York Life Insurance Co. But there will not be any impact on the joint venture business. We have already announced aggressive growth plans. The move will not have any impact on the five or six large insurance companies in India.

However, for second-tier life insurance firms, where the domestic partners are not very active, this might lead to more activity and aggression in the business. There must be some other foreign insurance companies who are waiting for this to happen to announce their plans for India. In any case, competition will increase and size of the business will grow. Overall, it is a positive for the industry.

How important is the life insurance business for Max India?

Life insurance business accounts for almost 75 per cent of Max India's revenues. It will continue to be our major revenue source. We want to be a $5-billion company by 2011-12, and two-thirds of that should come from this business. We are targeting to achieve revenue in excess of $1.7 billion by the end of March 2009.

How do you differentiate yourself from other private life insurance players?

Unlike others, Max is a pure life insurance player. For all the other existing players, the life insurance business is one among many things. For me, Max India being just a holding company, life insurance is the biggest business. You have also announced a joint venture with UK's leading insurance player BUPA for the health insurance sector. How do you intend to go forward?

There are only two or three standalone health insurance players, who have also just started. So it is too early to comment on their performance. Max Bupa Health Insurance will have a very clear business plan. Others might have announced their plans first. But it is not enough to announce it and fire. You have to aim. We are aiming (firming up business plans) for 17 months so that when we fire, we go.

How is your healthcare business?

We have big growth plans for Max Healthcare. Four new hospitals, three in Delhi and one elsewhere in the North are coming up. We are growing in the super-specialty area and will be the biggest private player that provides comprehensive healthcare at a single hospital. There were reports about Max India planning to list of each of its business arms as separate entities in the stock exchanges. Your comments.

The report was incorrect. I had said that we will list them at some point in time. It could be two years or 12 years. Right now we are not listing. I guarantee you that we are not listing them at least for the next few years.

What about your speciality plastic business? Any plans to divest unrelated segments as your focus is now on healthcare service, and the life and non-life insurance segments?

I agree that it is an odd ball in our business mix. But it is a very successful business. It is going on very well on its own. Let it continue.

Source: Business Standard