Religare opts for singly entry into health insurance business

Religare Enterprises is likely to foray alone in the Health Insurance space, though sources close to the development said that it had not lined out the prospect of roping in a partner later.
In June, Religare had signed a non-binding term sheet with Swiss Re to set up a health insurance joint venture. But three months later, the two parted ways.
“We are evaluating the option of going alone and may soon apply for R1, R2 and R3 license,” said Anuj Gulati, Chief Executive Officer Religare Health Insurance. R1, R2 and R3 are different stages of approval arranged by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority, with R3 being the final go-ahead.
So far, Reliance General is the only non-life insurer to not have any foreign joint venture partner.
On the life side, Reliance Life and Sahara Life do not have partners, though the previous is now in the hunt for an investor to raise funds to finance its expansion.
Insurers said foreign partners bring in knowledge to run the business, which is required more than the capital. The minimum capital required for setting up both life and non-life insurance is Rs 100 crore. More capital is required as the business grows but the need for funds on the general insurance side was minor.
Last year, when L&T parted ways with Travelers, it went ahead to seek regulatory approval for venturing into the non-life insurance gap.
The company expects to start process in another two months. Another tie-up that insolvent last year was Hero-Ergo and Indiabulls-Societe Generale while Edelweiss is setting up a Life Insurance joint venture with Tokyo Marine.
Insurance industry executives said that with the private sector present in the Indian market for nearly 10 years, local capacity had been created and that will help Indian companies go solo.
Apart from the fact that general insurance required lower capital, a group like Religare could easily put in the required funds till the company achieved break-even, the sources said.
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