National Insurance ready to list in the Stock Market, if allowed

National Insurance ‘ready’ to list in bourses

With regard to the process of listing in the stock exchanges, The National Insurance Company said on Wednesday that it is “ready” for listing, if government starts listing process of the state-run general insurance companies.

[dropcap color=”#008040″ boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]T[/dropcap]he chairman-cum-managing director K. Sanath Kumar said on the sidelines of an interactive session organized by MCC Chamber of Commerce & Industry, that “In principle, the government announced that government-owned companies would be up for listing. We are ready if they want to start the process. It’s the government’s call; they have to take it.”

He also said, “Since, our company is fully owned by the government. So there has never been any need for valuation so far. But for listing, we have to transform our company into a public company owned by the government. For which we have to have a valuation.”

Presenting the budget for 2016-17, union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had announced that the general insurance companies owned by the government would be listed in the stock exchanges to promote transparency and accountability.

Sanath Kumar said the face value of shares needs to be brought down to attract participation of retail investors.

[dropcap color=”#008040″ boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]T[/dropcap]”here will be long procedures to follow and all including the brand equity should be valued. If the process starts, it usually takes about 9-10 months to be completed,” he said when asked about the expected time by which the process could be completed.

He also said the company has no idea when the process would start but the government could start interacting after the budget session of parliament.

“The government would start interacting soon. Possibly, I think it will happen after the budget session, when they will have more time to deliver on these things, perhaps.”

However, the company is facing challenges due to shortage of qualified professionals like surveyors available in the tier II and III cities. Due to this, claim settlements get delayed sometime, he said.

The general insurer collected Rs.11,200 crore ($1674.39 Million) total premium in the 2014-15 fiscal and is expecting to cross Rs.12,000 crore($1793.99 Million) this year. “We are experiencing a subdued growth,” he added.

History of insurance in India

Here is an informative link on history of insurance in India.

Notes:
1. IANS
2. The conversion rate used in this article is 1 US Dollar = 66.89 Rupees.