INDIA'S LIFE INSURANCE INDUSTRY IS CHANGING RAPIDLY AS IT

UNCLAS MUMBAI 000469 E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ECON EINV PGOV IN SUBJECT: INDIA'S LIFE INSURANCE INDUSTRY IS CHANGING RAPIDLY AS IT WAITS FOR LEGISLATIVE ACTION REF: A. A. MUMBAI 369 ¶B. B. MUMBAI 393 ¶1. (U) Summary: Life insurance is a fast-growing industry in India and could be a source of much needed long-term financing. Most observers believe that the Indian Parliament will fail to pass a bill that would increase the equity limit of foreign investment in the insurance industry before the next national election. Though the government-owned life insurer retains a market lead and a government guarantee, the industry has been rapidly evolving since it was opened up to private firms in 2000, a change best represented by the proliferation of investment-oriented life insurance products. Private insurers have used these products to drive life insurance growth, but they have been controversial because they have cut into the market share of mutual funds. The rapid growth of the industry has also raised concerns about the quality of the products being sold, the agents who are selling them, and whether the insurance industry is properly assessing risk. End Summary. Life Insurance Growth in India -------------- ¶2. (U) Life insurance dominates the insurance business in India. Of all the insurance premiums underwritten in 2006-07, 86% were life insurance premiums. Last year, life insurance premiums grew at 47 percent, while non-life insurance premiums grew at 22 percent. India's life insurance industry is dominated by the former government-owned monopoly, the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC),which underwrote 82% of life insurance premiums issued in India in 2006-07. Though LIC itself is still growing in terms of the value of premiums it is underwriting, nineteen private life insurance companies share the remainder of the market and are eating into LIC's market share. (Note: The Indian insurance market is based on an agency model, in which agents are not allowed to cross-sell competing firms' products, forcing each insurance company to roll out its own retail networks through the country. End note.) Life insurance is important in India not just because it presents a mechanism for saving, but because it generates long-term liabilities that can be most productively matched with long-term assets, such as infrastructure bonds. (Note: The Committee on Financial Sector Reforms noted in its 2008 draft report that given the country's infrastructure needs there is a dearth of long-term domestic investors. End note.) Most Say Insurance Bill Unlikely to Pass Before Elections -------------- -------------- -------------- ¶3. (U) Until 1999, the insurance industry as a whole was restricted only to government-owned companies. In 2000, the government allowed private players to enter the market, but foreign direct investment was limited to 26 percent, requiring most foreign players to enter into joint ventures with local firms. In 2005, Finance Minister Chidambaram pledged to raise the cap to 49 percent, which would require legislation amending the 2000 Insurance Act. However, resistance from the Left parties prevented Chidambaram from even introducing the proposed legislative change. After the Left parties withdrew from the coalition government in July this year, Chidambaram renewed his commitment to seeing the insurance FDI cap raised. The odds of getting any legislation introduced and passed in one parliamentary session are very slim, though. (Ref A). Insurance companies have generally supported the passage of this bill, as all but two private life insurance companies and one private general insurance company are currently at or near the 26 % maximum. ¶4. (SBU) Congenoffs spoke with several life insurance players, most of whom thought it is unlikely that the bill will pass this year, assessing that the BJP was simply unwilling to cooperate after their loss in the trust vote. The lone exception to this came from Gaurav Garg, CEO and Managing Director at Tata AIG Insurance, who said that the BJP would not obstruct the passage of the bill because if the BJP wins elections, they are also likely to pass the insurance bill. Thus, the BJP has an incentive to have the bill passed under the Congress government so that they-the Congress party- will have to expend their political capital (Note: In Ref B, another Tata AIG executive discussed lobbying the BJP to pass the insurance bill). Shikha Sharma, managing director at ICICI Prudential Life Insurance noted that the bill would be good for the industry not just because of the increased FDI cap, but because the insurance business is changing rapidly and the bill would give the regulator more power, which is needed so that it can adapt quickly to changing circumstances. ¶5. (U) Vimal Bhandari, Country Head for Aegon insurance, a Dutch company with a joint venture with Religare Insurance, told Congenoffs that about a third of insurance firms are currently priced too aggressively by their domestic promoters to entice their foreign partners to raise their stakes. Hence the 26 percent limit may not be currently binding. The bottom third of companies (by valuation) are likely to be the most successful in attracting additional equity, as foreign companies have a long-term growth model for the sector. In general, he said, the divergence between high-valuation and long-term growth models has introduced strain in many joint venture relationships, which raising the equity cap to 49 percent would not remove. ¶6. (SBU) Also at stake in the bill is a diversification clause that would extend the period for which a single entity can own more than 26% of an insurance firm. The IRDA Act of 1999 allows a 10-year period of majority ownership to help build interest in starting new firms, but many firms face forced divestiture next year. Private insurance companies are eager to see the bill remove the diversification requirement to maintain control over any introduction of new ownership. Bennett, Managing Director at Max New York Life told CONGOFF that most companies have MOUs with their foreign partners giving them the option to buy at market prices up to the 49 percent limit in the event that the bill is passed. If current majority owners are forced to divest, new ownership may attempt to renegotiate terms. ULIPs Account for Bulk of Life Insurance Growth -------------- -------------- ¶7. (U) Since the opening of the sector in 2000, private insurers have gradually eaten into the market share of the government-owned companies in two major areas: life insurance and unit-linked insurance products (ULIPs). ULIPs combine a basic life insurance policy with a mutual fund-like investment, , so that a single premium will provide returns based both on the success of the investment, and a benefit in the event of a policyholder's death. According to the 2006-07 Annual Report from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority - India's insurance regulatory body- ULIP premiums grew from about $400 million in 2003-04 to over $6 billion in 2005-06. ULIP growth then leveled off to the still- brisk growth of 159 percent between 2005-06 and 2006-07. ¶8. (U) Rajeev Ahuja, an insurance specialist at the World Bank in New Delhi, told Congenoff that the reason for the growth of ULIPs was due to regulatory arbitrage. In opening up the insurance market to private players, the government had not established guidelines on the ratios of insurance and investment for each ULIP. Private insurers therefore began offering ULIPs that were insurance in name only, providing only token insurance coverage with the majority of the premium going to a capital markets investment. According to Ahuja, ULIPs quickly became attractive because, unlike mutual funds, life insurance products enjoy beneficial tax treatment. Other life insurance products are forced to invest mostly in government-issued securities, while the IRDA allows for more flexibility in the instruments into which ULIP funds may invest. ULIPs were also attractive from the insurer's perspective because, unlike most insurance products, investment risk is born by the policyholder. However, the rapid growth of ULIPs coupled with the lobbying efforts of mutual funds made the IRDA take notice. In May 2006, IRDA issued rules mandating-among other things-minimum insurance coverage for ULIPs. This new regulation, combined with the recent drop in equity markets, have helped slow ULIP growth in this fiscal year. Confusion Over Tax Treatment Between Mutual Funds and ULIPs. -------------- -------------- -------------- ¶9. (SBU) Gary Bennett and Shikha Sharma, managing directors respectively at Max NewYork Life Insurance and ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, denied that ULIPs received special tax advantage. Sharma, defensively, said that, in contrast, equity-linked mutual funds have a tax advantages over ULIPs. When asked why ULIPs had grown so much faster than mutual fund products, they each argued that life insurers had simply been more aggressive and had seen marketing opportunities that the mutual funds had not and that life insurers had the advantage of having a lot of physical infrastructure already in place to help them push sales. Life insurance sales also provide better commissions for the sales agents, providing an incentive to market ULIPs more aggressively. [Note: Section 80C of the Income Tax Act exempts both life insurance products and equity-linked mutual funds from taxation. ULIPs are allowed to invest tax free in debt. Debt-based mutual funds, by contrast, are not exempted from tax. Recent press has speculated that the mutual fund agency model impedes mutual fund market penetration. End note.] Misselling Worries Some Observers -------------- ¶10. (SBU) With the rapid growth, several life insurance company representatives expressed concern that poorly trained sales agents were "misselling" insurance products. [Note: Misselling happens when a customer buys a financial product without understanding it, or when an insurance company sells a product without an accurate presentation of the risk. End note.] Shikha Sharma said she was pleased with the recent slowdown in premium growth, as it gave ICICI time to ensure its sales agents were acting appropriately. Gary Bennett said that the education and training of life insurance sales agents was not as rigorous is it should be, and that the standards the government requires for the licensing of life insurance sales agents should be higher. Gaurav Garg, of Tata AIG Insurance, told Congenoffs predicted that the life insurance industry was experiencing the "soft" part of the insurance cycle-a time of great competition and low premiums that precedes a shock that gives way to higher premiums and more stringent underwriting standards. Bhandari of Aegon noted that under the current agency model, the insurance sector is a high-cost, high-volume business. This model requires any company wishing to establish a national presence to have retail offices in at least 1100 cities. If IRDA would allow agents to cross-sell multiple policies, this would bring costs down for the industry and increase coverage. LIC's Government Guarantee Still Provides Advantage -------------- -------------- ¶11. (U) With over 86 percent of the market, LIC is still the biggest player in the Indian insurance market. Despite the opening of the sector, the company still enjoys some advantages over private companies. Sharma and Bennett each noted that LIC can claim a government guarantee, and does not have to retain the same capital adequacy ratios as the private companies to account for risk. N. Mohan Raj, Executive Director of Investment Operations at LIC confirmed this. (Note: The Draft Report of the Planning Commission's Committee on Financial Sector Reforms recommends that the explicit government guaranty of LIC liabilities-written into the LIC Act-be revoked. End note.) Comment -------------- ¶12. (U) The failure to pass the insurance bill before the next elections will probably not do irreparable harm to the insurance industry. Life insurance premiums are growing healthily, even without the hike in the equity cap to 49 percent. First-year premiums collected in May 2008 were 23% greater than premiums collected in May 2007, according to the latest data available from the IRDA Journal. While this is much slower than the growth rates of prior years, the industry may benefit from the slowdown because it will give them time to focus on the quality of their contracts, rather than the volume, and to battle whatever misselling might be occurring. Allowing increased foreign participation in the insurance market is a must from a long-term perspective, and most observers Congenoffs spoke with agreed that the FDI cap would be raised eventually, be it in a BJP- or Congress-led government. SIGNATURE