Lloyd’s Chairman offers support for insurance penetration in India

Lloyd’s of London chairman John Nelson has said the 325-year old insurance giant can help support the expansion of insurance penetration in India and limit the economic impacts of catastrophes and other major events that can hamper the growth of the insurance industry and the economy in general.

The world’s largest insurance platform is gearing up to start its India operations in Mumbai by early 2017. Lloyd’s has already applied for a license to insurance regulator IRDAI to operate in India and currently underwrites Indian business on an off-shore basis.

“We will start our India operation with just couple of syndicates and would scale up gradually. We would target 8-10 per cent growth in Indian markets,” Nelson said. Currently Lloyd’s underwrites around $175-200 million of business in different segments like marine, liability, property, aviation and energy.