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Transparency turning into premium item in Indian insurance sector?

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 Mixed views were expressed by insurance industry experts on the sectoral regulators recent decisions of permitting non-life insurers, foreign reinsurer branches (FRB) and Lloyd’s India not to disclose their underwriting performance or NL 40 statement to the public.

Similarly, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has also said foreign reinsurer branches (FRB) and Lloyd’s India need not publish their half yearly and annual accounts, analytical ratios in newspapers.

According to IRDAI, it has received representations on rationalisation of regulatory compliance needs and has taken action on them.

Transparency is turning into a premium item in the Indian insurance sector is one view while the contrary view is that wisdom has dawned on IRDAI albeit late.

“Any rationalisation is good. But transparency is important,” K.K. Srinivasan, former Member (Non-Life), IRDAI told IANS.

“Discontinuing uploading NL 40 appears to be a retrograde step in this era of transparency,” Srinivasan added.

On the IRDAI actions relating to FRBs and Lloyd’s India he added: “As long as FRB’s (including Lloyds) continue to upload their half yearly and annual revenue accounts, profit and loss accounts, balance sheets and key ratios on their website truthfully this purpose will perhaps be adequately be served. There should be severe penalties if the financials uploaded in the website are found to be false or misleading.”

On the other hand P.S. Prabhakar, Senior Partner of the accounting firm Rajagopal & Badrinarayanan and a former insurance industry official wholeheartedly welcomed the IRDAI’s moves.

“I wholeheartedly welcome such easing of restrictions which should not have been put in the first place,” Prabhakar.

“It is a good mindset change for IRDAI that has been hitherto only a trigger-happy regulator and has always irritated the insurers or FRBs (though none of them would have the courage to make this charge openly!) to give needless info and to make disclosures that could jeopardise the business interests in this competitive scenario. Wisdom dawns albeit late!” he said.

According to him, financial information of insurers is anyway published.

Prabhakar argues that insurers need not put their underwriting business strategies and sensitive information as to where they are doing reinsurance, the terms.

“Insurance has always involved public money. No one questioned the public sector insurance companies when they were frugal in disseminating even mandatory information in the pre IRDAI days,” Prabhakar said.

The IRDAI has also exempted FRBs and Lloyd’s India having a policy of not investing in Indian equities but invest only in government securities and debt markets from disclosing to the public their investment.

“Insurers do need data on FRBs and the reason why exemptions in disclosures are granted needs examination, especially on NL 40 and investments,” D.D. Singh, retired Member of IRDAI.

According to Srinivasan, the least transparent in the sector are the insurance intermediaries who are perhaps not even required to upload their financials on their website.

“That should be insisted upon,” Srinivasan said.

As regards ease of doing business, insurance officials have told IANS that the regulator should look at its process of approving new insurance products.

Curiously instead of looking at those items, the IRDAI has exempted the general and reinsurers from disclosure norms.

Business

Mukesh Ambani Planning To Introduce ₹52,200 Crore Worth IPO, Reliance To List Jio Infocomm In Stock Market

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Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), led by the country’s richest man Mukesh Ambani, is planning to bring the biggest IPO ever. RIL is preparing to list its telecom business, Jio Infocomm, in the stock market. This IPO can be worth Rs 52,200 crore (about $6 billion).

Reliance Starts Informal Talks With SEBI

According to a Bloomberg report, Reliance has started informal talks with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to get approval to sell just 5% stake in Jio. If this approval is received, this IPO will break the record of Hyundai Motor India’s Rs 28,000 crore IPO.

Actually, under the current rules of SEBI, companies have to sell at least a 25% stake for public float. But Reliance has told SEBI that the Indian market does not have the capacity to bear such a big offer. Therefore, the company is seeking an exemption to sell 5% stake.

When Will The IPO Launch?

According to Bloomberg sources, this IPO can be launched in the early months of next year, although its size and timing will depend on the market situation. If this plan is successful, it will be the country’s largest IPO.

Jio’s IPO will give an opportunity to big foreign investors like Meta Platforms and Alphabet Inc. (Google) to sell their stake. In 2020, both these companies invested more than $20 billion in Jio Platforms. During this period, Jio’s valuation was $58 billion.

Which Other Investors Have Invested In Jio?

Apart from this, investors like KKR, General Atlantic, and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority have also invested heavily in Jio. Market experts say that Jio’s valuation can be more than $100 billion. However, Reliance wants to increase its income and subscriber base further before the IPO so that the valuation can be increased further.

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Adani Green Energy Sales Jump 42% In Q1, Operational RE Capacity Reaches 15.8 GW

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Key Highlights:

– Energy sales rose 42 percent YoY to 10,479 million units in Q1 FY26.

– Operational RE capacity reached 15.8 GW, the highest in India.

– EBITDA surged 31 percent to Rs 3,108 crore, backed by new greenfield projects.

Ahmedabad: Adani Green Energy Ltd’s (AGEL) energy sales surged 42 per cent (year-on-year) in the April-June quarter (Q1 FY26) to 10,479 million units, as operational renewable energy (RE) capacity grew 45 per cent to 15.8 GW which continues to be India’s largest, the company said on Monday.

While revenue growth increased by 31 per cent (on-year) to Rs 3,312 crore, EBITDA also went up by 31 per cent to Rs 3,108 crore.

According to the Adani Group company, cash profit surged by 25 per cent (on-year) to Rs 1,744 crore in the quarter.

“During Q1 FY26, we added 1.6 GW of greenfield renewable energy capacity, bringing our total increase to 4.9 GW over the past year — an achievement unmatched in India’s transition toward clean energy,” said Ashish Khanna, CEO of Adani Green Energy.

“Our investments in the massive RE development at Khavda in Gujarat as well as other resource-rich sites are delivering results both in terms of superior operational performance and industry-best EBITDA margins,” he said, adding that the company is on track to achieve its 2030 target of 50 GW RE capacity — with at least 5 GW of hydro pumped storage along with battery storage.

Strong revenue, EBITDA, and cash profit growth are primarily backed by robust greenfield capacity addition, deployment of advanced RE technologies, superior plant performance and deployment of new capacities in resource-rich sites in Khavda (Gujarat) and Rajasthan.

“Further, battery storage is also a key part of our future strategy. We remain committed to supporting national energy transition and security ambitions as well as maintaining our ESG leadership, highlighted by our top rankings in the FTSE Russel ESG assessment and recognition at the Reuters Global Energy Transition Awards 2025,” Khanna noted.

AGEL has consistently generated electricity exceeding the overall annual commitment under the power purchase agreements (PPA). In Q1 FY26, AGEL’s PPA-based electricity generation was 31 per cent of the annual commitment.

The company is developing a massive 30 GW renewable energy plant at Khavda in Gujarat. This is spread over an area of 538 sq km, almost 5 times the city of Paris.

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Sensex May Touch 1.15 Lakh And Nifty 43,876 By FY28 In Bull Case, Says Ventura Stock Broking Report

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Mumbai: In a bull case scenario, Sensex is projected to reach 115,836 and Nifty is likely touch 43,876 by the financial year 2028 (FY28), a report said on Friday.

However, in a bear case scenario, Sensex is projected to reach 1,04,804 and Nifty at 39,697 by FY28, Ventura, a stock broking platform, said in its recent projection.

Nifty is expected to oscillate within a well-defined price-to-earnings (PE) band in these three years, with projected robust earnings growth with estimated FY28 earnings per share compound annual growth rate (EPS CAGR) of 12-14 per cent.

“In the last 10 years, the Indian economy has demonstrated resilience and clocked the highest GDP growth as a large economy despite global headwinds of NBFC crisis, Covid 19, Russia-Ukraine war and the recent uncertainty on US President Donald Trump tariff,” said Vinit Bolinjkar, Head of Research, Ventura.

The risk mitigation influencers will outweigh the current challenges, which will usher Indian GDP growth to 7.3 per cent by FY30(E), he added.

By FY28, the Indian index will be at a PE level of 21 times in the bull case and 19 times in the bear case with an estimated earnings-per-share (EPS) of 5,516 for Sensex and 2,089 for Nifty 50, the report stated.

Over the past ten years, India has demonstrated extraordinary resilience by navigating a series of unprecedented disruptions without compromising its growth trajectory.

From the “Fragile Five” designation to demonetisation, GST implementation, a crippling NBFC crisis, and the dual shock of COVID-19 waves, India has withstood and adapted to adversity, the report highlighted.

According to the report, even global headwinds like the Russia-Ukraine war and Trump-era tariffs have failed to derail its momentum, underlining the robustness of the Indian economy.

As of the mid-season point for Q1 FY26 earnings, 159 companies have reported Q1 FY26 results, revealing broad-based strength across key sectors.

Engineering/manufacturing and services sectors have led the pack, while consumption, commodities, and pharma show steady performance, the report stated.

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