INSURANCE IN INDIA
HISTORY:
In India, insurance has a deep-rooted
history. It finds in the writings of Manu ( Manusmrithi ), Yagnavalkya (Dharmasastra ) and Kautilya ( Arthasastra ). The writings in terms of pooling of resources that could be
re-distributed in times of calamities such as fire, floods, epidemics and
famine.
CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER OF INSURANCE HISTORY IN INDIA:
1818:Life insurance
business in India with the establishment of the Oriental
Life Insurance Company in Calcutta.
1829: The Madras Equitable had begun transacting life insurance
business in the Madras Presidency.
1870 :The enactment of the British Insurance Act and in the last
three decades of the nineteenth century, the Bombay Mutual (1871), Oriental
(1874) and Empire of India (1897) were started in the Bombay Residency.
1912:The Indian Life Assurance Companies Act, 1912 was the first
statutory measure to regulate life business
1914:The Government
of India started publishing returns of Insurance Companies in India.
1938:To protecting the
interest of the Insurance of public: Insurance Act, 1938 with comprehensive
provisions for effective control over the activities of insurers.
1956: An Ordinance was issued on 19th January, 1956 nationalising the Life Insurance
sector and Life Insurance Corporation came into existence in the same year.
The LIC absorbed 154 Indian, 16 non-Indian
insurers as also 75 provident societies—245 Indian and foreign insurers in all.
1971:The General Insurance Corporation of India was incorporated
as a company and it commence business on January 1sst 1973.
1972: With the passing of
the General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Act, general insurance
business was nationalized with effect from 1st January, 1973.
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insurers were amalgamated and grouped into four companies, namely National
Insurance Company Ltd., the New India Assurance Company Ltd., the Oriental
Insurance Company Ltd and the United India Insurance Company Ltd.
2000: Following the recommendations of the Malhotra
Committee report, IRDA was incorporated as a statutory body in April, 2000.
In December, 2000, the subsidiaries of the
General Insurance Corporation of India were
restructured as independent companies and at the same time GIC was converted
into a national re-insurer. Parliament passed a bill de-linking the four
subsidiaries from GIC in July, 2002.
Today there are 28 general insurance
companies including the ECGC and Agriculture Insurance Corporation of India and 24 life insurance companies operating in the country.
