IRDA's order addresses immediate concerns: Rel Cap

NEW DELHI: Reliance Capital, the holding company of Anil Ambani Group's insurance ventures, on Monday said regulator IRDA's direction to ignore the SEBI order, which banned 14 companies from selling ULIP products, has addressed "immediate concerns" and protected interest of policyholders.

"With IRDA passing a formal order directing insurance companies to go ahead and continue with their ULIP business, any immediate concerns have been addressed," Reliance Capital CEO Sam Ghosh said in an e-mailed statement.

He further said that the interests of investors and policyholders all stand fully protected.

"This is an issue which has been brewing for some time, and we hope it will be sorted out between IRDA and SEBI expeditiously," he added.

Market regulator SEBI on last Friday banned 14 life insurance companies from raising funds through unit-linked insurance policies, which invest the money collected into equity and debt markets.

A day later, insurance sector regulator IRDA asked the companies to ignore the SEBI order and do business as usual.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today said that the two regulators SEBI and IRDA have agreed to maintain the status quo that existed before market regulator's ban.

The status quo will be maintained till a court decides who can regulate ULIP schemes, he said.

The life insurance companies against whom SEBI passed the order were SBI Life, ICICI Prudential, Tata AIG, Aegon Religare Life, Aviva Life, Bajaj Allianz, Bharti AXA, Birla Sunlife, HDFC Standard Life, ING Vysya Life, Kotak Mahindra Old Mutual Life, Max New York Life, Metlife India and Reliance Life.