Micro Insurance Agency plans India entry
Hyderabad: US-based insurance broking company Micro Insurance Agency (MIA) has decided to enter India and is engaged in talks with some insurance companies and micro finance organisations to forge alliances. Richard Leftley, president of Micro Insurance Agency Holdings LLC said MIA needs groups that can offer access to a minimum of one lakh people.

MIA is engaged in product design and pricing. The company specialises in providing cover to low-income groups and also gets very thin margins in this segment as premiums range from 30 cents to $2 a month. While distributing the products through a range of media, it offers back office administration services too. With operations in 10 countries in Africa and Asia, it currently serves 31 lakh lives.

Leftley said the percentage of GDP (gross domestic product) on insurance spending in India was very low at just 3.14 per cent ($22.7 per capita) as against the global average of 7.52 per cent ($518.5).
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BoB to get into life insurance
New Delhi: The Bank of Baroda (BoB) is planning to foray into the life insurance business with a European partner. The bank is at present talking to some shortlisted European insurance companies and will finalise the joint venture partner by April end.
The foreign partner will have 26 per cent stake in the joint venture.
The Bank of Baroda's plans to enter the insurance sector was cleared by its board in September 2006.
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ICICI Bank to raise over $5bn
Mumbai: ICICI Bank, India's biggest private bank plans to raise about $5 billion in foreign markets this year through loans and bonds to facilitate takeovers by Indian companies abroad, and to finance the domestic needs of companies through external commercial borrowings.

ICICI has successfully priced a €500 million ($665 million) floating rate note (FRN) under its MTN programme.

Chanda Kochhar, ICICI Bank's deputy managing director, said a large portion of the bank's international business in funded by borrowings abroad.

The bank is considering a euro-denominated borrowing, Kochar said, though the majority of the money would still be in dollars.

Creating such cash hoards abroad serve many purposes, though not much of the money is brought in directly by companies.
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