India Budget: India raises foreign investment limit in insurance sector to 100% from 74%

Sbi Life Insurance

01/02/2025 06:43

MUMBAI, Feb 1 (Reuters) - India, on Saturday, raised the
foreign direct investment (FDI) limit in the insurance sector to
100% from the current 74%, a move aimed to boost overseas
investments and improve insurance penetration in the country.
    The change applies to insurers that invest their entire
premium in India, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said,
while presenting the annual budget.
    Existing regulations and conditions governing foreign
investment in the sector will undergo review and simplification,
Sitharaman said.
    In November, the Insurance Regulatory and Development
Authority of India's (IRDAI) chairperson, Debasish Panda, said
the government should allow 100% FDI in insurance.
    "To stick to India's target of 'insurance for all' by 2047,
we need a lot of capital ... we need a lot of new entities to
come in, there may be some consolidation happening," Panda had
said.
    Shares of insurance companies such as SBI Life  SBIL.NS  and
HDFC Life  HDFL.NS  rose 2.3% each, while ICICI Prudential Life
 ICIR.NS  gained 3%.

 (Reporting by Siddhi Nayak; Editing by Savio D'Souza)
 ((Siddhi.Nayak@thomsonreuters.com; +91 22 6921 7848; Reuters
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