Further streamlining the system governing the Ulips, insurance regulator Irda on Tuesday proposed to do away with wide variance in charges imposed by insurers for surrendering these securities-linked products.
The insurance regulator is currently in a tussle with the market watchdog Sebi over the regulation of Ulips.
Analysts said the statement sharpens Irda’s position that not much is wrong with Ulips, as is made out in certain quarters.
The regulator also proposed uniform norms that should be adopted by insurers for closing the policies or reviving them. As per the draft, there would be no charges for surrendering a policy with a maturity of under 10 years, if the policyholder surrenders his/her policy after six years.
For a policy with a maturity of over 10 years, there would be no charges if the surrendered after 7th year. It imposed maximum limits that insurers could charge from policyholders.
***
Employees keep off PSU IPOs
AGE Correspondent
MUMBAI
The retail investors are not the only ones who were lukewarm to the public offers from the public sector units.
The public sector employees have been even more lukewarm towards subscribing to the public issues of their respective public sector companies though a quota was specifically reserved for them.
The total amount reserved for the employees by all the PSUs in their IPOs and follow on public offers (FPOs) from January 1, 2010 till date, was Rs 573 crore as against which applications worth only Rs 211 crore were received. This is just 37 per cent of the total amount reserved for employees according to SMC Capitals Limited.
Mr Jagannadham Thunuguntla, of SMC said it is necessary for the PSUs to look into this lukewarm response and find out whether it is due to lack of ability to invest or lack of willingness to invest. If for instance it is the latter then their non-participation could weaken investor morale. If it is their inability then the PSUs could go in for an aggressive approach to ensure easier that the loan process is made easier through banks and non-banking financial companies.
The government had recently taken the initiatives of giving shares at a discount to the employees.
Analysts feel that in the forthcoming IPOs of FPOs the government should be more generous when pricing their public offers at a discount. This is even more necessary considering the weakness and volatility in the market currently.
The government as part of its disinvestment objective had said that it wanted employees to also have a stake in the PSUs and that’s why a special quota was reserved for employees.