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Cash-strapped Videocon Industries, which is fighting a bankruptcy case at the NCLT, today announced exit from general insurance business and sold its entire stake to the DP Jindal Group and Enam Securities for an undisclosed sum.
While the DP Jindal Group will hold 26 per cent, Enam Securities will hold 25 per cent in the new Liberty General Insurance Company, in which the foreign partner Liberty Mutual Insurance Group of the US will continue to hold 49 per cent.
The US insurer had increased its stake in the JV to 49 per cent last December from 26 per cent earlier.
Nod for rebranding
The company has received the necessary regulatory approvals for rebranding and will soon apply to change its name to Liberty General Insurance with the Registrar of Companies, company’s chief executive and whole-time director Roopam Asthana said.
In a statement, Liberty Mutual said, “with the new partnership, we will expand and fortify our position as one of the fastest growing general insurance companies in India with our capability to deliver high quality products and services across general insurance category. We are committed to the Indian market.”
Commenting on the partnership, Matt Nickerson, President and COO for the Eastern Regions at Liberty Mutual said, “we are committed to growing its insurance joint venture in India to better serve the evolving insurance needs of consumers, and we believe that with the support of these two strong local promoters we will be able to even more rapidly serve our customers and distribution partners in India.”
The company’s paid-up capital stands at ₹1,084 crore, which is one of the highest paid-up capital for any general insurer in the country. It has registered 38 per cent growth in the December quarter without any exposure to crop insurance, making it one of the fastest growing general insurers.
Asthana told PTI that the company is expecting over ₹800 crore new business premium this fiscal year, which is a 40 per cent growth from the previous financial year.
The company targets to grow two-three times over the market, which is growing at 17 per cent annually, he added.
Niche segments
The company is also planning to enter three niche segments — mergers and acquisition, cyber and title. It sees a good business proposal in title segment after the implementation of RERA Act.
“We are ready with M&A segment and will launch a product next month. We are still working on the cyber and title segments and hope to launch a cyber product in a couple of months. Title segment will take more time and will try to have a product sometime next fiscal. We expect these three segments to grow quickly,” he added.
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