Insurance sector finally in private hands again
New Delhi: October 23, 2000 will surely go down as a red-letter day for the Indian financial markets. On this day, the insurance regulatory authority, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority, granted permission for registration of three private insurance companies: Reliance General Insurance Company, HDFC Standard Life Insurance Company and Royal Sundaram Alliance Insurance Company.

Three other companies have also been given in-principle approval for registration, subject to certain conditions. They are ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company, Max New York Life Insurance Company and IFFCO Tokio General Insurance Company.

This ends the decades-old state monopoly in the insurance sector, thus, hopefully, forcing giants like the Life Insurance Corporation and the General Insurance Corporation to face competition from the private sector. The granting of the licenses also landmark decision marks the end of a long period of waiting by prospective private insurers to get a foothold in the Indian insurance industry.

The other private sector players who are awaiting licences are Kotak-Old Mutual, Tata-AIG and Bajaj Auto.
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Times Group to sell Times Guaranty to Devonshire Capital
Mumbai: It is understood that the Hong Kong-based, Devonshire Capital Group, a investment and merchant banking firm, is taking over Times Guaranty Ltd, the NBFC arm of the Times of India Group, at an estimated price of $2 million. The Devonshire Capital Group is based primarily in southeast Asia and has offices in Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur.

The finance company, which has not been doing well in the recent past, has been quoting very poorly on the stock exchanges.

According to Mr. Kush Verma of Devonshire, the Hong Kong group will take over 74.92 per cent stake of the non-banking finance company being held by the Bennett, Coleman group, owners of the Times of India.

Mr. Verma is likely to head the newly acquired outfit in India, which will be rechristened as Devonshire Capital India Ltd.
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Spread of Orange brand hits roadblock
New Delhi: The much-anticipated launch of the Orange brand of The Hutchison Group in Delhi, Calcutta and Gujarat seems to have hit a roadblock. It is understood that France Telecom, which is the foreign equity partner of Hutchison's Mumbai rival, BPL, is raising objections over the use of the Orange brand name outside the Mumbai circle.

The current problem began after the Hong Kong-based Hutchison Whampoa sold the brand name Orange as well as its mobile operations in Britain, to Mannessman of Germany in 1998, which was then bought over by France Telecom from Mannessman.

Significantly, when Hutchison Whampoa sold the brand in 1998, it sought an exception for promoting the Orange brand in Mumbai - as the group had operations in that metro alone, at that time.

With France Telecom holding a stake in rival BPL Telecom’s operations, it is believed by many that the French company is refusing to allow Hutchinson Max India to use the brand name outside of Mumbai.

Officials of the company, however, refuse to acknowledge the fact that France Telecom is putting pressure on the use of the brand name. Instead, they are attributing the delay of the launch of Orange in other cities, to delays in getting the network ready.
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