LIC to make inroads in Europe

As part of its plan to establish global footprint, Life Corporation of India of India (LIC) is looking at the prospect of making a foray into the European Union (EU).

"We want to increase our presence in the European region. Norway is one of the markets we are looking at," K Sridhar, managing director, LIC, said on the sidelines of the India-EU Summit.

Spelling out the strategy for LIC's overseas growth, Sridhar charted a 3-pronged strategy to increase its presence in the EU, including a direct entry, joint ventures or becoming brokers of the local players.

LIC was looking at 'co-branding' some of its insurance and pension products with the European players to enter that market.

"The European market has stiff regulations. We would be looking to market our products to the strong Indian community in Europe," Sridhar, said.

"We would explore all options for expanding into the European market. One is direct entry. Second is through a joint venture with a local partner. The third is to operate as broker of a local company," he said.

LIC had recently announced plans to enter Australia and New Zealand markets. Sridhar said LIC has presence in the Middle East through its arm LIC International (Bahrain). 'We will start operations in Saudi Arabia by the end of this month. Our joint venture company will sell both life and general insurance products,' he said.

LIC, the largest insurer in terms of number of policies now at over 16 crore, has decided to enter the mature EU market that is dominated by all the global majors. The government has provided Rs 280 crore to LIC in the budget for seed capital required for its overseas ventures.