There is no doubt in it that the New Year – 2010 is going to be the best in your life and will gratify your most of long-standing aspirations. Will the same be for everyone? Well, I am not so sure but surely it is not going to be for the Indian insurance sector. Reason? A bitter struggle between the insurance and markets regulators in the Indian scenario is imminent and the questioning of Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to HDFC Standard Life regarding the absence of life insurance cover under its pension plan has already initiated the scuffle.
Experts assume the market regulator looking for product details from a company which comes under the realm of the insurance regulatory and development authority is not unusual but the same development could intensify issue of regulatory turf. The only reason is that insurance companies are allowed to put up products for sale only after a rigorous approval process by IRDA.
Nevertheless, HDFC Standard Life Insurance has preferred to retain a strange silence over the issue thus far. But industry analysts are anticipating a bitterer development. As per the majority of them, IRDA may take the matter up with SEBI owing to the fact that the pension plan like all other products was cleared by the insurance regulator. It is to be noted that the launch of
unit-linked insurance plans has wakened the lines between a mutual fund and a life insurance company.
It has come to the knowledge, in order to distinguish the products the insurance regulator has prescribed minimum lock-in period for life companies. The approach, without a shred of doubt, is surprising since all life insurers sell similar pension plans without any life cover. HDFC Standard Life can’t be held culpable as a result.
We are waiting for a showdown.
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