Irdai reconstitutes expert committee for Ind AS/IFRS implementation
The 13-member committee, which will be headed by the Member (Finance and Investment) F&I of IRDAI, will also include the Chairman of the Accounting Standards Board (ASB) of ICAI, the President of the Institute of Actuaries of India (IAI), the CGM & HOD of IRDAI’s Actuarial Department, among others.
 

SBI allows customers to digitally enrol under PMJJBY and PMSBY schemes
Mumbai: State Bank of India (SBI) has launched a self-subscribing journey for enrolment under Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) and  Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) schemes for its customers. The functionality enables customers to enrol under the schemes as per their convenience without visiting the branch or Customer Service Point, per a statement by India’s largest bank. “The customer needs to key in the account number, date of birth on Jan Suraksha portal and to select the Bank. The Certificate of Insurance is generated instantly on payment of premium,” SBI said.

Free-Look Period in Insurance: Why is IRDAI proposing its extension to 30 days?
In a move that could significantly impact insurance consumers in India, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has proposed to extend the free-look period from 15 days to 30 days. This proposed rule aims to provide policyholders with more time to review their insurance policies thoroughly before committing to them. But what exactly is the free-look period, and how is this extension going to impact consumers?

LIC employee unions refuse 14% salary hike offer by management
The state-owned life insurer had offered to give its employees a raise of 14 per cent in a meeting convened with All India National Life Insurance Employees Federation and other unions in LIC.

Income Tax refunds: LIC’s Q4FY24 net profit to get ₹21,741 crore boost
Mumbai: Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) on Friday said the Income tax Department has released refunds aggregating ₹21,740.77 crore for seven assessment years beginning 2012-13. This refund will boost the life insurance behemoth’s bottomline in the fourth quarter. “The total amount of refund was ₹25,464.46 crore. In this regard, the IT Department has released ₹21,740.77 crore on February 15, 2024. The corporation is pursuing for the balance with the IT Department,” LIC said in a regulatory filing. The corporation reported a 49 per cent year-on-year jump in third quarter standalone net profit at ₹9,444 crore against ₹6,334 crore in the year ago quarter.

LIC launches a non-participating product 'Amritbaal' for children

The product, designed for children, will be available from February 17, 2024. It is a Non-Linked, Non-Participating, Individual, Savings, Life Insurance Plan.

TotalEnergies India partners Mahindra Insurance Brokers to provide insurance services at authorised workshops
TotalEnergies Marketing India (TEMIPL) has entered into an agreement with Mahindra Insurance Broker (MIBL) to provide one-stop insurance services at TotalEnergies Quartz Auto Services (TEQAS) workshops. This the company says will enable a hassle-free customer experience for insurance-related solutions for car owners.

Health insurance: What the new ‘cashless anywhere’ initiative entails
A key advantage of health insurance is the benefit of cashless claim settlement when a policyholder is admitted to a hospital for treatment — whether it be planned or emergency-driven. Cashless treatment is generally allowed by insurers when admitted in their empanelled or network hospitals.

Sukoon Health to provide cashless insurance coverage for inpatient mental health care
In a move aimed to help mainstream conversations on mental health, Sukoon Health has collaborated with five private insurance companies to provide cashless insurance coverage for patients seeking psychiatric inpatient care. Insurance companies had been told in 2018 to not discriminate between physical and mental health, but it took some campaigning before Sukoon was able to formalise collaborations that would improve access to mental health treatments and reduce the financial burden on those seeking care, said Sukoon’s Vidit Bahri, Co- Founder and Chief Growth Officer. In the last three-odd years since inception, about 90 percent of the people seeking mental health care were paying out-of-pocket, Bahri told businessline.

Market regulator Sebi urges industry to step up voluntary compliance
Addressing a gathering of capital market participants, Varshney said enforcement cannot be the only solution for each violation and all participants have to act responsibly.
 

SEBI experimenting with AI for processing draft offer documents
“We have started the pilot use of ChatGPT for first-level processing of draft public offer documents,” said Narayan. “That’s a public document, so we can subject it to ChatGPT. A PPM of alternative investment fund, on the other hand, is a private document, so we have to be careful about putting it out there. But we are using in-house machine learning programmes to see if we can feed all of the information into the memory and do first level processing.”

PFRDA brings pension funds under PMLA net
In a major overhaul of its pension fund regulations, pension regulator PFRDA has brought pension funds within the ambit of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), tightening the oversight on these entities.

Edelweiss Technology Fund NFO: Wait and watch
Edelweiss Asset Management has launched a thematic mutual fund - Edelweiss Technology Fund, which will focus on investing in technology and technology-related stocks in India and abroad. The NFO, which opened for subscription last week, closes on February 28.

Top performing mutual funds in the equity segment based on past returns; check full list here
Before investing in a mutual fund scheme, investors often weigh a number of pros and cons. Some of the key factors include the reputation of the fund house, category of scheme, overall market sentiment and historical performance of that mutual fund vis-à-vis other schemes in that category.

NFO Alert: Baroda BNP Paribas Mutual Fund launches Baroda BNP Paribas Innovation Fund; all you need to know
Baroda BNP Paribas Mutual Fund announced the launch of the Baroda BNP Paribas Innovation Fund. The scheme opened for public subscription on February 14, 2024, and will close on February 28, 2024. The scheme re-opens for continuous sale and repurchase within five days from the date of allotment.

SBI Magnum Gilt Fund: Making the most of falling yields
Policy rates in India seem to have peaked, while rate cuts may still be six-seven months away. This seems to be the main takeaway from the monetary policy review last week. But markets usually factor in events before they materialise. What’s more, Indian government bonds are set to be included in the JP Morgan GBI-EM global index from June this year. Higher foreign investor flows into government bonds will push government security (g-sec) prices up and their yields down in the market. So, if you are looking to gain from falling interest rates, the time to invest is now.

Strategic AIFs may get excluded from RBI’s evergreening rules: Report
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) may create a carve out for strategically important alternative investment funds (AIFs) from the restrictions imposed by the evergreening circular issued in December, reported Business Line. 

FIIs offload ₹6,240.5 crore in Indian equities this week, DIIs turn net buyers; What's behind this trend?
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) continue to be net sellers in Indian markets even as domestic equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty 50 settled one per cent higher on the week as investors shifted their focus to fundamentals and macroeconomic indicators. On the other hand, domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net buyers and strong domestic inflows counterbalanced outflows by foreign investors.

Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme 2023-24: New series ends today. Top 5 reasons to apply?
Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme 2023-24: The new scheme of the Sovereign Gold Bond (SGB) 2023-24 which is popularly known as Sovereign Gold Bond 2024 opened on 12th February 2024. The new series of the SGB will remain open till 16th February 2024. This means investors have just one day in hand to apply for the Series IV of SGB. As per the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the Sovereign Gold Bond Series IV price has been fixed at ₹6,263 per gram. However, an online applicant can save ₹50 per gram as the RBI has announced a ₹50 per gm discount for an online applicant.

India bond yields dip marginally, focus stays on debt auction
Indian government bond yields eased in the early session on Friday as U.S. Treasury yields consolidated, with traders not eyeing any major near-term spike and focus shifting back to the central government’s last debt auction for this financial year. India’s benchmark 10-year yield was at 7.0760% as of 10:00 a.m. IST, following its previous close of 7.0883%.

Corporate finance firm REC to issue multiple-tenor bonds, say bankers
Source Credit: Business Standard

India's REC plans to raise funds through two bonds, one maturing in three years and two months and the other in 10 years, three bankers said on Friday.