After banking, it is now the turn of the Indian general insurance industry to strike business opportunities by way of the overseas M&A deals of India Inc.
Some of the major domestic general insurers, particularly private sector insurers with foreign collaboration and international reinsurers, are currently targeting these extended assets of India Inc located overseas through their international insurance programmes.
Such a programme would provide cover to the international operations of Indian companies under one master policy issued in the country. The advantage to the Indian conglomerate is that they have to deal with one insurance company for their global entities.
Bajaj Allianz General Insurance is working on plans to provide cover to the newly acquired overseas properties of Indian corporates, confirmed Kamesh Goyal, managing director & CEO, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance. Earlier, Tata AIG General Insurance issued such a policy for VSNL?s overseas operations.
According to a senior official of Swiss Re, the largest international reinsurer, the rising M&A activities of Indian corporates have opened up substantial business opportunities for Indian general insurance companies.
Such a policy can be designed with the active involvement of the reinsurer which has better knowledge about the overseas market.
?To put it in simple terms, the client would get one master cover for all insurance needs even if their risks are diversified in multiple locations. International insurance programmes can be undertaken for clients who have global manufacturing locations or offer products/services globally,? said Swaraj Krishnan, general manager, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance.
Normally, some countries do not allow outside insurers that do not have operations locally to provide cover to local assets. In these cases, the concerned insurer–much like a corresponding banking relationship–strikes an alliance with a local insurer, which has operations in the concerned country to provide cover to the company, which is the customer of the Indian general insurer.
In recent years, several Indian companies have acquired companies globally. Prominent among them are Tata Motors acquiring Daewoo?s truck business,
Tata steel acquiring Corus, Videocon acquiring Thomson, and Bharat Forge acquiring forging units in Germany. Several Indian companies?among them prominent groups like the Mahindras?are also setting up manufacturing plants in countries like China.