Lloyd's of London -- the best known name in insurance world -- said on Thursday it will open its reinsurance branch in India in time for the April major reinsurance renewals.

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) had in November last year given its approval for Lloyd's application to provide onshore reinsurance services in India.

Lloyd's latest announcement of its intent to open a branch office in India before April follows final regulatory (R3) approval from IRDA. The branch office in India will be located at Mumbai.

Lloyd’s Chairman John Nelson said: "This is a watershed moment in Lloyd’s international strategy. We have now cemented our access to the world’s largest, fast-growth economies, those most in need of the specialist insurance to protect their expanding asset base.

“Lloyd’s will bring expertise and specialist capacity to India’s insurance market and work in partnership with local insurance businesses to develop innovative solutions that meet the unique needs of the growing economy."

Lloyd’s will help to share and develop expertise across the industry to position India as an international centre for insurance and reinsurance. A strong and diverse reinsurance market will de-risk the economy and enable its entrepreneurs and businesses to take risks and thrive, he added.

“A local presence in India will bring Lloyd’s closer to clients and risks enhancing understanding and the ability to develop new solutions for the needs of the Indian market with a particular focus on agriculture, infrastructure and disaster management,” Nelson said.

Srivats.kr@thehindu.co.in

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW