"Five players have applied for licences to operate in the life insurance segment and the rest for non-life insurance business," IRDA member C R Muralidharan said at an insurance conference in Mumbai.
The Shriram group, Ranbaxy-promoted Religare Securities and real estate major DLF, have sought regulatory approval for entering the insurance sector, Muralidharan said.
Besides Indian companies, a few European and Australian companies have applied for licences to IRDA to enter the Indian insurance market, he said. Muralidharan refused to name other players who have applied for licences.
For foreign players to enter the Indian insurance market, they need to have a tie-up with local players. The foreign partner's stake cannot go beyond 24 per cent in the insurance company, according to present rules.
However, the government plans to hike the foreign partner's stake to 49 per cent. If IRDA gives licences to these 10 players then the total number of registered insurance players in the market would go up to 46 from the present 36.
After the Indian insurance market was opened up in 2001, the number of players has gone up from 6 to 32 in 2007. The total number of players include both public sector and private companies.
