IRDA may make listing mandatory for life insurance firms
23 Jul 2011
The Insurance Regulatory Development Authority (IRDA) is looking at new policy guidelines that would make it mandatory for insurance firms to go public.
The insurance sector regulator, however, is yet to formulate IPO rules for the sector.
Several insurance firms desperate to tap the market are still awaiting IRDA guidelines for initial public offers (IPOs).
"The Act doesn't stipulate companies to go public, but the regulator might," IRDA chief J Hari Narayan said on the sidelines of an industry summit.
He said the insurance industry is contending with other industry segments for capital and the IPO would assist them to lift some.
"The capital has to grow. We need capital," Narayan said.