MUMBAI (Reuters) - The Reserve Bank of India plans to allow banks to start insurance broking businesses to improve financial services in a country where more than 50 percent of the population has no access to formal banking.
Currently, Indian banks can sell and underwrite insurance products only through a joint venture with an insurer.
Lenders who have a capital adequacy ratio of not less than 10 percent and net non-performing loans of not more than 3 percent will be eligible to conduct insurance broking, the RBI said in draft guidelines issued late on Friday.
Also, the lenders should have been profitable for the last three consecutive years, should have a net worth of 5 billion rupees and a good track record in its joint ventures, the RBI said. (Reporting by Suvashree Dey Choudhury; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
