Both Hannover Re and SCOR have gotten regulatory approval to launch branches in India.

Hannover Re announced on Dec. 28 that the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India granted approval for the office, allowing it to launch business operations in both property/casualty and also life and health reinsurance.

The license follow’s India’s move to open the Indian market to foreign insurers and reinsurers. As Hannover Re noted, foreign insurers and reinsurers are eying an emerging market of 1.3 billion people with a rapidly growing middle class and a relatively low insurance density relative to other national economies.

Plans call for basing Hannover Re’s new branch office in Mumbai, and it will handle property/casualty reinsurance including agriculture risks. There will also be life and health business out of the same office.

Hannover Re CEO Ulrich Wallin said in a prepared statement that the new branch office means “we can now be even closer to our customers and respond more attentively to their reinsurance needs.”

Similarly, SCOR announced on Dec. 27 that India’s regulators gave it approval to open a branch office. Like Hannover Re, SCOR’s office will handle both property/casualty and life reinsurance.

SCOR noted that it has had a long history doing business in India, writing business with clients there since 1973. Subsequently, SCOR debuted a liaison office in 2005.

SCOR Chairman and CEO Denis Kessler said in prepared remarks that its local arm in India will be prepared to do business with Indian clients as of April 2917 renewals.

India’s move to allow more international insurers to do business within its borders has also drawn interest from the likes of Liberty Mutual Insurance Group. In August, the insurer boosted its share of an India joint venture to 49 percent – a decision that takes advantage of new regulations in the country allowing a larger ownership stake in joint ventures.

Sources: Hannover Re, SCOR