ING Life to impart capital

ING Life Insurance is place to impart Rs. 240 crore in fresh capital this financial year as part of its plan to reach 5-fold growth in business over the next 5 years, Chief Executive Officer Kshitij Jain said on Thursday.
“In the next 5 years, we expect to see 50(%) per cent of revenues of ING Asia Pacific coming from India, which is now at 20(%) per cent,” Mr. Jain told presspersons. The growth plan entails location up of 150 offices and product innovation. The country-wide growth would commence from the southern region. “We hope to reach a customer base of over five million in this period.”
Mr. Jain said, in the past 2 years, he said, the company did not increase, but tried to achieve competence. The expansion plan would postpone the company's breakeven target to 2013 from 2011.
The Chief Operating Officer of ING Insurance, Tom Mclnerney, said, “India is a important part of ING's network as it is one of the fastest growing markets. India stands tenth in terms of revenues to the company, and we wait for it to move up to seventh position by 2013.”
Mr. Jain said, the new guidelines laid down for Unit linked Insurance Plans (ULIPs) would have an impact and companies were yet to analyse the impact completely.
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All insurers debarred from issuing fresh ULIPs

Union Finance Ministry has stepped in the war between Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and Insurance Regulatory Development Authority (IRDA) over new unit linked insurance plans.
Insurance companies cannot issue any fresh ULIP products awaiting a court decision. The restriction is also relevant on the Life Corporation of India (LIC) and 8 others companies which be not named in the previous SEBI order that barred 14 insurers from issuing any new ULIP.
But all ULIPs issued before April 9 will carry on. The Finance Minister had already asked the insurance and market regulators to keep status quo on the SEBI order banning new unit linked plan or products by insurance companies.
The market regulator had on April 12 lifted its ban order forced on April 10 on selling of ULIPs by the 14 insurance companies after a meeting with IRDA and Finance Ministry officials in New Delhi.
The IRDA had rejected SEBI's resolution and asked the insurance companies to carry on with business as normal. The insurance regulator had invoked its powers under Section 34 (1) of the Insurance Act to take on SEBI.
SEBI wants all financial products to move to no entry load. ULIPs at present charge entry load.
The insurance companies against whom SEBI passed an order were SBI Life, ICICI Prudential, Tata AIG Life Insurance, Aegon Religare Life, Aviva Life, Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance, Bharti AXA, Birla Sunlife, HDFC Standard Life, ING Vysya Life Insurance, Kotak Life Insurance, Max New York Life, Metlife India and Reliance Life Insurance.