National Insurance and New India Assurance keen on strategic sale

Finance minister Arun Jaitley may have cleared the way for public listing of state-owned general insurers, but National Insurance and New India Assurance may first go for strategic stake sale to arrive at a valuation before their initial public offerings.

A senior executive of New India Assurance said, “We have not decided on the quantum but we want to explore the idea of strategic stake sale.” The official also said that the company is waiting for directions from the government on how to go ahead with listing. “We would like to open many more branches and for which we need capital.”

The finance minister had in his budget speech last month proposed to list New India Assurance, National Insurance, United India and Oriental Insurance and reinsurance company General Insurance Corporation.