SBI GENERAL Insurance, the non-life subsidiary of public sector lender State Bank of India, has launched of its operations beginning with Mumbai.
"Initially, we will write policies in Mumbai. We will start full-fledged operations pan-India once our IT infrastructure is put in place," SBI chief general manager (new initiatives), R K Garg, said.
The company expects to start full-scale operations by Q2 of the next financial year, he said. "To begin with, we propose to offer 23 products in commercial segments," he said.
The company has filed for 22 products, both in retail and commercial segments with the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda) and is expecting approval for the rest of the products soon, he said.
SBI General Insurance is a 74:26 joint venture between State Bank of India (SBI) and Australia-based Insurance Australia Group (IAG). The company, which would be the 22nd player in the general insurance industry, received its R3 approval for starting the company in December last year.
The managing director and chief executive officer of of the company is R R Bele. A representative of IAGRob Logie-has been appointed as the deputy CEO of the company. The company has a capital base of Rs 653-crore, including premium.SBI also has a life insurance joint venture -SBI Life Insurance with BNP Paribas Assurance. It is also pursuing plans of venturing into the private equity arena and is in the process of finalising its custodial services JV with Societe Generale.
