Insurers lap up CPSE ETF anchor book

Insurances companies seem to have loosened their purse strings to invest in the disinvestment exchange traded fund (ETF). Bulk of Rs 800-odd crore raised by the CPSE ETF has come from six insurance companies.

Interestingly, it was only earlier this month that the insurance regulator had cleared the decks for insurers to invest in equity ETFs.

The CPSE ETF raised Rs 835 crore from seven anchor investors on Tuesday. Six of the seven anchor investors are insurance companies.

These anchor investors are: Bharti AXA, General Insurance Corp, Life Insurance Corp, National Insurance Company, State Bank of India, The New India Assurance Co and United India Insurance--six of them are state-owned organisations.

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda) had also allowed insurers to invest in ETFs with expense ratio of up to 50 basis points. Earlier, it had prescribed a higher limit of 40 basis points. The CPSE ETF has expense ratio of 49 basis points.

The CPSE ETF will have to raise a little less than Rs 2,200 crore, from retail and other investors, during its three-day NFO period starting today.