IRDA plans disclosure norms for IPOs

Insurance regulator IRDA proposes to come out with disclosure norms for initial public offering (IPO) by insurance companies by this month end, its chairman J Hari Narayan said on Friday.

"We will be ready with the disclosure norms by the end of this month," Narayan, the chairman of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority, said.

There are few (insurance) companies which have shown interest for IPOs, and IRDA is working with market regulator SEBI to come out with guidelines, Narayan said.

The whole route towards an IPO would have three milestones -- Finalisation of the Red Herring Prospectus (RHP) requirements, disclosure norms and valuation of insurance companies, he said.

"The first milestone towards IPO will be finalisation of the RHP. The design, structure and disclosure required in consultation with SEBI. The second milestone would be the pattern of disclosure, which IRDA would mandate to insurance companies for IPO," he said.

"We have worked and standardised it (calculation of valuation). The Indian Institute of Acturial will bring out a guidance note on it. And once the guidance note is ready, we will make it mandatory for the insurance companies," Narayan said.

"The disclosure norms are under our jurisdiction and they would be ready by the month, he said. The other milestones may take few more months as there are several other players involved in the process, he said.