Max New York to triple capital base in three years

Private insurance company Max New York Life Insurance today announced plans to triple its capital base to Rs 2,600 crore in three years with a view to fund its expansion programme.

"We currently have paid-up capital of Rs 907 crore and this will be scaled up to Rs 2,600 crore by 2011. The fresh capital will be spent on funding our expansions plans, launching new products and foraying into the micro-insurance segment," Max New York Life Insurance Senior Vice President Kenneth Sannoo told reporters.

Besides, the company is targeting new premium income of Rs 9,000 crore by 2011 compared with the current Rs 1,418 crore. The number of offices will be increased from 233 to 533 in 400 cities and insurance advisors will go up from 30,500 to 2 lakh by 2011. The company has also announced a foray into health insurance business.

Talking about the health insurance sector, Sannoo quoted a study done with NCAER (National Council of Applied Economic Research), which found the penetration in the health insurance sector to be as low as 1.2 per cent, with rural areas contributing a mere 0.5 per cent.