Principal International Appoints Country Head for India

Mumbai, September 7, 2006: Principal International, a Principal Financial Group company, today announced the appointment of Mr. Rajan Ghotgalkar as Country Head-India, Principal International and Managing Director of Principal Pnb Asset Management Company. Mr.Ghotgalkar will have overall responsibility for all the businesses of The Principal in India, with the current senior management team reporting to him.

"We are very pleased to be bringing Mr. Ghotgalkar on board in this senior and strategically important role," said Mr. J. C. Tupling, COO-Asia, Principal International. "Working with our teams in the U.S., Hong Kong and India, Mr. Ghotgalkar will steer our India strategy, identifying and analysing market opportunities and ensuring that The Principal's joint venture businesses in India stay at the leading edge of world best practices."

Mr. Ghotgalkar started his career in 1982 and has worked for organizations such as ANZ Grindlays Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, National Bank of Dubai and most recently IDBI Bank. He comes with excellent experience covering branch management, operations, finance, consumer banking and retail banking. Mr. Ghotgalkar is an Economics (Honours) Graduate and a Chartered Accountant.

About the Principal Financial Group The Principal Financial Group® (The Principal®)1 is a leader in offering businesses, individuals and institutional clients a wide range of financial products and services, including retirement and investment services, life and health insurance and banking through its diverse family of financial services companies and national network of financial professionals.

A member of the Fortune 500, the Principal Financial Group has $206 billion in assets under management2 and serves some 16.3 million customers worldwide from offices in Asia, Australia, Europe, Latin America and the United States. Principal Financial Group, Inc. is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol PFG. For more information, visit www.principal.com.

About Principal Pnb Asset Management Company Private Limited:

Principal Pnb Asset Management Company Private Limited (in association with Vijaya Bank) is a joint venture between the Principal Financial Group® (The Principal®)1, Punjab National Bank, and Vijaya Bank. Principal Pnb AMC is the investment manager of The Principal Mutual Fund. The Principal® holds 65 percent, Punjab National Bank holds 30 percent and Vijaya Bank holds 5 percent in this venture. Today, more than 580,000 investors have entrusted Principal Pnb AMC with managing their assets worth Rs.12, 073 crore (US$2.6 billion).