Business

Govt-owned insurers goes for organisational rejig, calls for consultants

Published

4 years ago

May 3, 2022

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Is the central government moving towards merging its four general insurance companies into one?

The question pops up as the four general insurers have decided to restructure the organisation towards profitable growth and have called for Request for Proposal (RFP) from consultancy firms.

The assignment is called “Organisational Efficiencies and Performance Management in Public Sector General Insurance Companies.”

The four insurers are: The Oriental Insurance Company Limited, National Insurance Company Limited, The New India Assurance Company Limited and United India Insurance Company Limited.

Of the four, The New India Assurance is listed in the stock exchanges.

As per the tender, the companies are calling for one consultant for the assignment which is logical as the process, human resource policies and procedures are uniform in the four companies, a senior industry official told IANS.

Though the central government did not proceed further on its earlier announcement to merge the three unlisted non-life insurers- The Oriental Insurance, National Insurance and United India Insurance- or to privatise one of the three.

Given this, the current move seems to be the logical step towards that, say senior industry officials.

Further, the employees in the four companies also demand the same.

According to a senior industry official, the privatisation move is still on the cards and merger is not in consideration of the government.

Be that as it may, as per the RFP, the four companies are undergoing a transformative journey for the last two years with successfully running on the path to profitable growth and efficiencies, optimisation.

“This, being the third year, is earmarked for Organisational Efficiencies.”

Accordingly, there is a proposal for restructuring the organisation to bring in profitable growth and employee development through Performance Management and Capability
Management, in alignment with the key performance indicators (KPI) devised the public sector general insurance companies.

The four companies have found a need for a consultant who could quickly absorb itself into this journey of ongoing reforms and permeate them into each and every branch and staff by designing, handholding and successfully implementing the process of such transition through organisational restructuring, performance management and its real-time measurement, allocation of specific roles and responsibilities as well as performance indicators for sales, non-sales and support staff, capacity and capability building and carefully crafted change management approach.

As on 31.03.2022, the four insurers together have procured a total premium of Rs.75,116 crore with a market share of around 34 per cent.

The total employees’ strength is around 44,743 spread over 6,759 offices.

The expected duration of the proposed assignment for the selected consultants is 10 months, with a provision for extension, if required on existing terms.

As per the RFP, the scope of work involves organisational restructuring that is irreversible providing for digitally enabled workflows to convert operating offices into customer experience and business development centres while centralising underwriting/claims/accounts and others into the Regional Hubs;

– activate all three key channels for retail business growth namely, Agency, Bancassurance and Alternative channels through suitable sales management, incentives and rewards processes;

– create/shift large corporate businesses (both direct and broker-driven) at select6-8 locations, directly reporting to the Head Office.

– provide capacity planning framework through manpower redistribution for both Business Development (BD) and Non-BD roles, with a clear focus on retail business through pre-underwritten products and simplified processes;

– provide a comprehensive reskilling/up – skilling and capability building framework for BD, Non-BD, large corporate and vertical teams to cope with the above restructuring in a confident and motivated manner;

– handhold the insurers in implementing the new organisation structure across functions and geographies by providing carefully designed and sensitively implemented change management approach and communication framework;

– designing objective and quantifiable KPIs for each unique role along with their measurable outcomes and its integration with the performance appraisal system for each PSGIC to achieve y-o-y milestones;

– based on the above KPIs, creating performance dashboards for each sales and non-sales staff at the Operating Offices, Regional Offices and Head Office as well as across functions linked with the core system.

While the majority of the work is centered around a common approach for all the four insurers, the implementation shall happen at individual company level.

“Broadly, 80 per cent of the proposed assignment shall be allocated towards creating unified/common strategies/methodology and frameworks while 20 per cent of the proposed assignment will be allocated towards customising and rolling them out at individual company level,” the RFP said.

Interested consultancy firms should submit their proposals to the Chief Executive, General Insurers’ (Public Sector) Association of India (GIPSA), the coordinating body for the project.

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HDFC Bank shares fall over 1 pc as US law firms launch securities probe

Published

15 hours ago

July 24, 2026

Mumbai Press

New Delhi, July 24: Shares of India’s largest private sector lender, HDFC Bank, fell more than 1 per cent in early trade on Friday after three US law firms announced separate investigations into whether the bank may have violated federal securities laws.

The investigations were announced by the Law Offices of Howard G. Smith, the Law Offices of Frank R. Cruz and Glancy Prongay Wolke & Rotter through separate press releases.

According to the law firms, the investigations are focused on whether HDFC Bank and certain of its executives made materially misleading statements or failed to disclose information relevant to investors, potentially violating US federal securities laws.

The probes stem from a May 27 report by The Indian Express — which alleged that HDFC Bank made payments of about Rs 45 crore (Rs 450 million or around $4.7 million) to the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) to attract large institutional deposits.

The report also alleged that the payments were booked as marketing expenses and that the bank’s Chief Executive Officer was aware of them.

According to the law firms, HDFC Bank’s American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) fell $1.02, or 4.1 per cent, to close at $23.78 on May 27 following the publication of the report.

The firms have invited investors who suffered losses in HDFC Bank ADRs to contact them and share relevant information as they assess whether there are sufficient grounds to pursue securities-related claims.

However, no securities class action lawsuit has been filed against HDFC Bank at this stage. The investigations are preliminary and are intended to determine whether legal action is warranted.

However, the lender has not issued any statement on the matter to the stock exchanges — the NSE and the BSE — till 10:30 am.

On Friday, HDFC Bank shares fell as much as 1.44 per cent during early trade on the BSE. The stock has declined more than 25 per cent over the past one year, nearly 20 per cent in the last six months, and around 25 per cent so far this calendar year.

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Business

IndusInd Bank shares tumble over 6 pc after Q1 results

Published

2 days ago

July 23, 2026

Mumbai Press

New Delhi, July 23: Shares of private sector banking stock IndusInd Bank fell more than 6 per cent in early trade on Thursday after the bank posted its June quarter earnings.

The banking stock plunged as much as 6.29 per cent to 1002.50, hitting an intraday low of Rs 1,002.50 on the BSE at around 11:50 am.

At the last count, the stock was trading at Rs 1,006.75, a decrease of 5.90 per cent.

The selling pressure in the banking stock came after the private lender reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 1,037.05 crore for the first quarter of FY27 on Wednesday, compared with Rs 604.07 crore in the corresponding period last year.

The earnings were supported by a 21 per cent decline in provisions and contingencies, which stood at Rs 1,384 crore.

The lender’s net interest income (NII) rose 1 per cent year-on-year to Rs 4,685 crore, while its gross non-performing asset (GNPA) ratio improved to 3.25 per cent. Gross slippages also declined to Rs 1,660 crore from Rs 2,567 crore a year ago.

Earlier in June, the bank witnessed selling pressure after reports claimed a complaint seeking an investigation into alleged insider trading, governance lapses, and audit shortcomings at the bank.

The selling pressure in shares followed reports suggesting that a whistleblower had approached multiple authorities — including the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), the National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA) and other agencies.

According to them, the complaint alleged insider trading, manipulation of financial records, evergreening of microfinance loans, suppression of audit findings and attempts by senior management and board members to conceal irregularities.

Additionally, the stock has touched a 52-week high of Rs 1,077.80 and a 52-week low of Rs 710.85 on Thursday on the BSE.

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Business

Indian Railways records sharp decline in accidents, safety budget hiked 3-fold

Published

2 days ago

July 22, 2026

Mumbai Press

New Delhi, July 22: There has been a sharp decline in train accidents in the country over the last 12 years as a result of the high priority being accorded to safety on Indian Railways.

The annual budgetary allocation for safety has shot up more than three-fold from Rs 39,200 crore in 2013-14 to Rs 1,20,389 crore in 2026-27, the Centre told the Parliament on Wednesday.

The number of “consequential accidents” came down from 135 in 2014-15 to 16 in 2025-26 and only two accidents have been reported in 2026-27 till June this year, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said in a written reply to a query in the Lok Sabha.

“The causes of the accidents that took place over Indian Railways broadly include track defects, locomotive or coach defects, equipment failures, human errors, etc. Rail safety has now been strengthened through modern technology, infrastructure and enhanced maintenance. As many as 6,671 stations have been equipped with electronic interlocking and complete track circuiting while 10,395 level crossing gates have also been brought under the interlocking system to minimise human errors,” Union Minister Vaishnaw noted.

Complete track circuiting of these railway stations has been undertaken to enhance safety by verification of track occupancy by electrical means.

Detailed instructions on issues related with safety of signalling, for example, mandatory correspondence check, alteration work protocol, preparation of completion drawing, etc. have been issued.

The Indian Railways has added 36,429 track kilometres during 2014–26, which is more than 2.5 times higher than 2004–14 which has enhanced track safety.

Modernisation of rolling stock and maintenance practices strengthens safety, with LHB coach production rising more than 21 times to 49,366 during 2014–26 and weld failures reduced by 93 per cent.

The indigenously developed Kavach 4.0 safety system has been successfully commissioned on 2,490 route kilometres covering the high-density Delhi–Mumbai and Delhi–Howrah routes.

Kavach implementation work is also under progress on 21,937 route kilometres, with installation being taken up on 7,435 locomotives and 1,200 EMU/MEMU trains.

The amount utilised for Kavach works so far up to June 2026 is Rs 3874.9 crore.

The allocation of funds during the year 2026-27 is Rs 2066.24 crore.

Requisite funds are made available as per the progress of works.

In reply to another query, Union Minister Vaishnaw said that at present, recruitment against 1,61,889 vacancies of non-gazetted personnel has been taken up on Indian Railways as per annual calendar 2024, 2025 and 2026.

During January to December 2024, ten Centralised Employment Notifications for 92,116 vacancies were notified for filling up of posts of Assistant Loco Pilots, technicians, Sub-Inspectors, Constables in Railway Protection Force (RPF), Junior Engineers, Depot Material Superintendent, Chemical and Metallurgical Assistant, Paramedical Categories, Non-Technical Popular Categories (Graduate), Non-Technical Popular Categories (Under-Graduate), Ministerial and Isolated Categories and Level-1 categories such as Assistants, Track Maintainers and Pointsman.

First stage/Single stage Computer Based Tests for 92,116 posts have been completed.

“During 2026-2027 (up to June 30, 2026) panels for more than 3,300 candidates for various posts, including the posts of Technicians, Junior Engineers, Paramedical Categories, Ministerial and Isolated categories and Assistant Loco Pilots have been finalised. Majority of them are in safety categories,” Union Minister added.

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