Insurance industry includes two sectors Life Insurance & General Insurance.
The Indian insurance industry has around 52 insurance companies. The 28 of them is non-life insurance and 24 of them is life insurance.
India's life insurance sector is the leading insurance industry in the world having covered 36 crore policies.
Insurance sector is listed in the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution. It can only be legislated by the central government.
First Insurance Company Oriental Insurance Company started by Anita Bhavsar in Kolkata. It is established in 1818.
First Indian insurer is Bombay Mutual Life Assurance Society. It is started in 1870.
First General Insurance Company in India is Triton Insurance Company. It was started by British (1850).
Life Insurance Companies Act and the Provident Fund Act was implemented in 1912 to regulate the insurance business.
The oldest insurance company in the country which is still running is National Insurance Company Ltd. It was started in 1906 and is still in the industry.
Government of India undertook all General Insurance Companies in 1917.
Nationalisation of the Life Insurance sector is based on the Government of India Ordinance on 19th January 1956.
Nationalisation of General Insurance is based on General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Act 1972.
Union Cabinet in July 2014 approved a proposal to relax Foreign Direct investment (FDI) limit in the domestic insurance sector to 49 percent from the previous 26 percent to bring capital and investment.
IRDA: The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority were established on April 19 2000. The Headquarters is at Hyderabad. IRDA Act came into effect on the basis of Malhothra Committee. IRDA was established in place of Insurance Regulatory Authority.
IRDA protect the interest of the insurance policy holders and regulate, promote and ensure orderly growth of the Insurance industry.
Life Insurance Corporation (LIC)
LIC is the major state-owned and is the leading life insurance company in India.
Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) is also the country's largest investor. It is set up in September 1, 1956. The Headquarters is at Mumbai.
It is the biggest insurance company around the globe with respect to the number of policies covered.
The first woman Managing Director of LIC is Usha Sangwan.
General Insurance Corporation (GIC)
General Insurance Corporation is the sole reinsurance company in the insurance sector of the country. It was formed on 22nd November 1972 and nationalised on Jan. 1, 1973.
It is headquartered in Mumbai.
New four companies established are National Insurance Company Ltd, New India Assurance Company Ltd, Oriental Insurance Company Ltd and United India Insurance Company Ltd.
National Insurance Company Ltd was established in 1906 based in Mumbai and was nationalised in 1972
New India Assurance Company Ltd was founded by Sir Dorabji Tata in 1919. It is nationalised in 1973.
Oriental Insurance Company Ltd is incorporated at Bombay on 12th September 1947. The Company was a supplementary of LIC of the country from the year 1956 to the year 1973 till the General Insurance Sector was nationalized in India.
United India Insurance Company Ltd was founded in 1938. Its Headquarters is at Chennai. With effect from December 2000 these subsidiaries delinked from the parent company and were set up as independent insurance companies.
