IPO norms for insurers soon, says IRDA

“IPO guidelines would be issued in the next 15 days,” IRDA Member R Kannan told PTI.
IRDA, which has been working on the guidelines along with market regulator Securities &  Exchange Board of India (Sebi), is likely to come out with a draft for public comments before issuing the final guidelines.

Several private sector insurance companies, including Reliance Life, have shown interest in tapping the capital market to augment its resource base.

The government had proposed to ease the norms to allow companies to list after five years of operation, instead of the current 10-year norm. However, Kannan said, “no decision has been taken on reducing the number of years before permitting insurance companies to go public.”

As per the Insurance Act, the promoters having 26 per cent stake can offload equity after 10 years of operation of the company. The legislation also empowers the govenment to reduce the mandatory period. The IRDA had already notified the disclosure norms, necessary for providing details about the operations and balance sheets on quarterly and yearly basis.

The IPO guidelines will deal with minimum norms that a company must fulfill before hitting the capital market.