The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has moved to cancel ITI Reinsurance’s licence to transact reinsurance business after the company failed to commence business operations.
ITI Re, which is the only domestic reinsurer in India besides GIC Re, was originally granted a Certificate of Registration (CoR) by IRDAI to start transacting business by December 2016.
The company was later granted a two-year extension to this deadline but again failed to commence operations within the longer time-frame.
Subsequently, in February 2019 ITI Re resolved to surrender its licence after confirming that it had not written any business or issued any policy, and did not intend to carry out any activities.
IRDAI has now responded by requesting that ITI Re surrender it CoR, subject to certain conditions.
In December 2018, the regulator also rejected a proposal from Go Digit, an insurer owned by billionaire Prem Watsa, that sought to acquire ITI Re from its current owners, The Investment Trust of India.
IRDAI said the proposed deal had a number of issues that violated regulations, but there has been speculation that its rejection of the takeover was motivated by ITI Re’s inactivity since gaining its licence.
