In India, Insurance is a national matter, in which life and general insurance is yet a booming sector with huge possibilities for different global companies, as life insurance premiums account to 2.5% and general insurance premiums account to 0.65% of India's GDP. The Indian Insurance sector has gone through several phases and changes, especially after 1999, when the Govt. of India opened up the insurance sector for private companies to solicit insurance, allowing FDI up to 26%. Since then, the Insurance sector in India is considered as a flourishing market amongst global insurance companies. However, the largest life insurance company in India is still owned by the government.

The history of Insurance in India dates back to 1818, when Oriental Life Insurance Company was established by Europeans in Kolkata to cater to their requirements. Nevertheless, there was discrimination among the life of foreigners and Indians, as higher premiums were charged from the latter. In 1870, Indians took a sigh of relief when Bombay Mutual Life Assurance Society, the first Indian insurance company covered Indian lives at normal rates. Onset of the 20th century brought a drastic change in the Insurance sector.

In 1912, the Govt. of India passed two acts - the Life Insurance Companies Act, and the Provident Fund Act - to regulate the insurance business. National Insurance Company Ltd, founded in 1906, is the oldest existing insurance company in India. Earlier, the Insurance sector had only two state insurers - Life Insurers i.e. Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), and General Insurers i.e. General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC). In December 2000, these subsidiaries were de-linked from parent company and were declared independent insurance companies: Oriental Insurance Company Limited, New India Assurance Company Limited, National Insurance Company Limited and United India Insurance Company Limited.

Top Insurance Companies in India

List of top insurance companies

Following are some of the top insurance companies in India.

Life Insurance Corporation of India -

The Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) is undoubtedly India's largest life insurance company. Fully owned by government, LIC is also the largest investor of the country. LIC has an estimated asset of Rs. 8 Trillion. It also funds almost 24.6% of the expenses of Government of India.

Established in 1956 and headquartered in Mumbai, Life Insurance Corporation of India has 8 zonal offices, 100 divisional offices, 2,048 branch offices and a vast network of 10,02,149 agents spread across the country.

The Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) (Hindi: भारतीय जीवन बीमा निगम)(Marathi: भारतीय जीवन विमा निगम) is the largest state-owned life insurance company in India, and also the country's largest investor. It is fully owned by the Government of India. It also funds close to 24.6% of the Indian Government's expenses. It has assets estimated of

9.31 trillion (US$202.03 billion).^[1] It was founded in 1956 with the merger of more than 200 insurance companies and provident societies. ^[2]

Headquartered in Mumbai, financial and commercial capital of India,^[3] the Life Insurance Corporation of India currently has 8 zonal Offices and 101 divisional offices located in different parts of India, at least 2048 branches located in different cities and towns of India along with satellite Offices attached to about some 50 Branches, and has a network of around 1.2 million agents for soliciting life insurance business from the public.

[hide]


Type	Government-owned corporation
Industry	Insurance
Founded	1 September 1956
Headquarters	Mumbai, India
Key people	T. S. Vijayan (Chairman) D. K. Mehrotra, Thomas Mathew and A. Dasgupta (MD)
Products	Life insurance Pensions Mutual funds
Total assets	9.31 trillion (US$202.03 billion)
Owner(s)	Government of India
Employees	112,184 (2008)
Subsidiaries	LIC Housing Finance Limited LIC(Nepal)Ltd LIC(Lanka)Ltd LIC(International)BSC(C)
Website	www.licindia.in

Tata AIG Insurance Solutions-

Tata AIG Insurance Solutions, one of the leading insurance providers in India, started its operation on April 1, 2001. A joint venture between Tata Group (74% stake) and American International Group, Inc. (AIG) (26% stake), Tata AIG Insurance Solutions has two different units for life insurance and general insurance. The life insurance unit is known as Tata AIG Life Insurance Company Limited, whereas the general insurance unit is known as Tata AIG General Insurance Company Limited.

American International Group, Inc. (AIG) (NYSE: AIG) is an American insurance corporation. Its corporate headquarters are located in theAmerican International Building in New York City. The British headquarters office is on Fenchurch Street in London, continental Europe operations are based in La Défense, Paris, and its Asian headquarters office is in Hong Kong. According to the 2008 Forbes Global 2000 list, AIG was once the 18th-largest public company in the world. It was listed on the Dow Jones Industrial Average from April 8, 2004 to September 22, 2008.

AIG suffered from a liquidity crisis when its credit ratings were downgraded below "AA" levels in September 2008. The United States Federal Reserve Bank on September 16, 2008 created an $85 billion credit facility to enable the company to meet increased collateral obligations consequent to the credit rating downgrade, in exchange for the issuance of a stock warrant to the Federal Reserve Bank for 79.9% of the equity of AIG. The Federal Reserve Bank and the United States Treasury by May 2009 had increased the potential financial support to AIG, with the support of an investment of as much as $70 billion, a $60 billion credit line and $52.5 billion to buy mortgage-based assets owned or guaranteed by AIG, increasing the total amount available to as much as $182.5 billion.^[3]^[4] AIG subsequently sold a number of its subsidiaries and other assets to pay down loans received, and continues to seek buyers of its assets.

erican International Group, Inc.

Type	Public (NYSE: AIG) S&P 500 Component
Industry	Insurance Financial services
Founded	1967
Founder(s)	Cornelius Vander Starr
Headquarters	American International Building New York City, U.S.
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Robert S. Miller(Chairman)^[1] Robert Benmosche (President and CEO)
Products	Insurance annuities Mutual funds
Revenue	$96.004 billion (2009)^[2]
Operating income	-$13.648 billion (2009)^[2]
Net income	−$10.949 billion (2009)^[2]
Total assets	$847.585 billion (2009)^[2]
Total equity	$69.824 billion (2009)^[2]
Employees	116,000 (2009)^[2]
Website	AIG.com

AVIVA Life Insurance -

AVIVA Life Insurance, one of the popular insurance companies in India, is a joint venture between the renowned business group, Dabur and the largest insurance group in the UK, Aviva plc. AVIVA Life Insurance has an extensive network of 208 branches and about 40 Bancassurance partnerships, spread across 3,000 cities and towns across the country. There are more than 30,000 Financial Planning Advisers (FPAs) working for AVIAV Life Insurance. It offers various plans like Child, Retirement, Health, Savings, Protection and Rural.

Aviva plc (LSE: AV., NYSE: AV) is a global insurance company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the sixth largest insurance company in the world measured by net premium income and has 53 million customers in 28 countries.^[3] It is the market leader in both general insurance and life and pensions in the UK and has major businesses in Continental Europe, North America and Asia.^[3]

Its primary listing is on the London Stock Exchange and it is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It has a secondary listing on the New York Stock Exchange.


Type	Public limited company (LSE: AV,NYSE: AV)
Industry	Insurance
Founded	2000
Headquarters	St Helen's Tower London, United Kingdom
Key people	Lord Sharman, Chairman Andrew Moss, CEO
Products	Life insurance Pensions General Insurance
Revenue	£59.083 billion (2009)^[1]
Operating income	£2.022 billion (2009)^[1]
Net income	£1.315 billion (2009)^[1]
Total assets	£354.391 billion (2009)^[1]
Employees	46,000 (2010)^[2]
Website	aviva.com

[hide]

MetLife Insurance -

MetLife India Insurance Company Limited is another popular player in Indian insurance sector. A joint venture between the Jammu and Kashmir Bank, M. Pallonji and Co. Private Limited and other private investors and MetLife International Holdings, Inc., MetLife Insurance offers a wide range of financial solutions to its customers including Met Suraksha, Met Suraksha TROP, Met Mortgage Protector and Met Suraksha Plus etc. It has its branches situated over 600 locations across the country. More than 50,000 Financial Advisors work for MetLife.

MetLife, Inc. is the holding corporation for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, commonly known as MetLife. The firm was founded on March 24, 1868. For most of its life the company was a mutual organization, but it went public in 2000.

MetLife is the largest life insurer in the United States, with more than $3.3 trillion of life insurance in force. A leader in savings and retirement products and services for individuals, small business, and large institutions, MetLife serves 90 of the largest Fortune 100 companies.

The company is headquartered at 1095 Avenue of the Americas in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, though it retains some executive offices and its board room in the MetLife Building, which it sold in 2005.^[1]

[hide]

ING Vysya Life Insurance -

ING Vysya Life Insurance entered into the Indian insurance industry in September 2001. A joint venture between ING Group, Ambuja Cements, Exide Industries and Enam Group, ING Vysya Life Insurance uses its two channels, viz. the Alternate Channel and the Tied Agency Force to distribute its products. The first channel has branches in 234 cities across the country and has got 366 sales teams. On the other hand, the later one has more than 60,000 advisors. Currently, ING Vysya Life Insurance has tie ups with more than 200 cooperative banks.

Birla Sun Life Financial Services -

Birla Sun Life Financial Services is a joint venture between Aditya Birla Group and Sun Life Financial Inc, Canada. It has got an extensive network of more than 600 branches. More than 1,75,000 empanelled advisors work for Birla Sun Life, which currently covers over 2 million lives.

Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSX: SLF, NYSE: SLF, PSE: SLF) is a leading international financial services company known primarily as a life insurance company. Based in Waterloo, Ontario, Sun Life and its partners provide insurance, retirement and investment solutions for individuals and businesses around the world including Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, India, China and Bermuda. Sun Life ranks number 236 on the Forbes Global 2000 list for 2010.


Type	Public
Industry	Financial Services
Founded	1865 in Montreal, Quebec
Headquarters	Waterloo, Ontario
Key people	Donald A. Stewart, CEO Dean A. Connor, COO Kevin P. Dougherty, President (Canada; Sun Life Global Investments) Westley V. Thompson, President (US) Dikran Ohannessian, President (Asia) Colm J. Freyne, CFO Stephen C. Peacher, Chief Investment Officer Mark S. Saunders, Chief Information Officer
Products	Financial Services, Financial planning and advice, Life insurance, Health insurance,dental insurance, disability insurance, Investments andretirement savings
Revenue	$15.510 billion CAD(2009)^[1]
Net income	$622 million CAD (2009)^[1]
Employees	29,180 including India and China joint venture company employees (2008)^[2]
Website	www.sunlife.com

[hide]

MAX New York Life -

Max New York Life Insurance Company Ltd. is one of the top insurance companies in India. A joint venture between Max India Limited and New York Life International (a part of the Fortune 100 company - New York Life), Max New York Life Insurance Company Ltd. started its operation in April 2001. It currently has around 715 offices located in 389 cities across the country. It also has around 75,832 agent advisors. Max New York Life offers 39 products, which cover both, life and health insurance.

Max New York Life Insurance Company Ltd. is a joint venture between Max India Limited.^[1], one of India's leading multi-business corporations and New York Life International[11], the international arm of New York Life, a Fortune 100 company [12]^[2]. The company has positioned itself on the quality platform.

Max New York Life Insurance

Type	Private
Industry	Financial Services
Founded	2000
Founder(s)	Analjit Singh
Headquarters	New Delhi, India
Number of locations	674 offices (2010), 139 offices dedicated to rural business (2010)
Area served	India
Key people	Analjit Singh Executive Chairman, Rajesh Sud Chief executive officerand Managing director
Products	Individual Insurance (25 products and 8 riders/options) and Group Insurance (6 products and 7 riders/option s)
Employees	11,666 (2010), 69,778 Agent Advisors (2010)

[hide]

Bajaj Allianz -

Bajaj Allianz is a joint venture between Bajaj Finserv Limited and Allianz SE, where Bajaj Finserv Limited holds 74% of the stake, whereas Allianz SE holds the rest 26% stake. Bajaj Allianz has been rated iAAA by ICRA for its ability to pay claims. The company also achieved a growth of 11% with a premium income of Rs. 2866 crore as on March 31, 2009.

Allianz (help·info) SE^[2] (formerly AG, FWB: ALV, NYSE: AZ) is one of the largest financial services providers in the world, headquartered inMunich, Germany.

Its core business and focus is insurance. With €92.5 billion of revenue during 2008, Allianz is the second largest international insurance and financial services organization in the world.

Allianz has sold Dresdner Bank to Commerzbank, largely for shares in November 2008.^[3] As a result of this merger, Allianz gained a 14% controlling stake in the new Commerzbank Group.

Allianz Global Investors ranks as a top-five global active investment manager, having €1443 billion of assets under management (AuM), of which €1131 billion are third-party assets (as of 2010-09-30), with specialized asset managers such as PIMCO (Bond fund), RCM(Equity fund), AAAm(Fund of Hedge fund), Degi(Real estate fund), etc.

[hide]

Allianz SE

Type	Societas Europaea (FWB:ALV, NYSE: AZ)
Industry	Financial services
Founded	1891
Headquarters	Munich, Germany
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Michael Diekmann (CEO), Henning Schulte-Noelle(Chairman of the supervisory board), Paul Achleitner (CFO)
Products	Insurance, banking, asset management
Revenue	€97.39 billion (2009)^[1]
Operating income	€7.182 billion (2009)^[1]
Profit	€4.297 billion (2009)^[1]
Total assets	€584.0 billion (2009)^[1]
Employees	153,200 (2009)^[1]
Website	www.allianz.com

Bharti AXA Life Insurance -

Bharti AXA Life Insurance, one of the top insurance companies in India, is a joint venture between Bharti group and world leader AXA. Bharti holds 74% stakes, whereas AXA holds the rest of 26%. Bharti AXA has its branches located in 12 states across the country. It offers a range of individual, group and health plans for its customers. Currently more than 8000 employees work for Bharti AXA Life Insurance.

AXA (Euronext: CS, Pink Sheets: AXAHY) is a French global insurance group headquartered in the 8th arrondissement of Paris. AXA is a conglomerate of independently run business, operated according to the laws and regulations of many different countries. The AXA group of companies engage in life, health and other forms of insurance, as well as investment management. The group operates primarily in Western Europe, North Americaand the Asia Pacific region and the Middle East.

The AXA Group encompasses five operating business segments: Life & Savings, Property & Casualty, International Insurance (including reinsurance), Asset Management and Other Financial Services. It ranks as the 9th largest company in the world (based on revenue) on the 2010 Fortune Global 500list.^[3]


Type	Société Anonyme (Euronext:CS, Pink Sheets:AXAHY)
Industry	Financial services
Founded	1816
Founder(s)	Claude Bébéar
Headquarters	8th arrondissement, Paris, France
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Jacques de Chateauvieux(Chairman of the supervisory board), Henri de Castries(Chairman of the management board and CEO)
Products	Life and health insurance,investment management
Revenue	€90.12 billion (2009)^[1]
Profit	€3.606 billion (2009)^[1]
AUM	€845 billion (2009)^[1]
Total assets	€708.6 billion (2009)^[1]
Employees	135,000 (salaried, 2009)^[2]
Website	axa.com

[hide]

List of insurance companies in India

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Indian insurance industry has a total of 47 insurance companies, including life as well as general (non-life) insurance companies. Refer the below given table for a classfication of total number of insurance companies in India: