Lloyd’s Begins Operating in India with MS Amlin as 1st Underwriter

Lloyd’s, the specialist insurance and reinsurance market, announced it has begun to operate in India with MS Amlin as the first Lloyd’s business to join the branch and begin underwriting.

Lloyd’s India will act as a domestic reinsurance branch of Lloyd’s, providing capacity and expertise to support India’s growing economy with a particular focus on infrastructure, agriculture and disaster management, Lloyd’s said in a statement.

Shankar Garigiparthy will lead Lloyd’s India operations as country manager and CEO.

Lloyd’s decision to expand into India “will help Indian insurance firms increase the resilience of the Indian economy to catastrophic events and boost Britain’s ties with one of the world’s most exciting economies…,” said U.K. Chancellor Philip Hammond.

As a member of a trade delegation to boost ties between the U.K. and India, Hammond attended the signing of a ceremonial Lloyd’s India policy, which marked the official opening of the branch office

“Lloyd’s will help to strengthen and diversify the Indian reinsurance market, increasing the capacity, products and choice available to Indian insurers,” said John Nelson, chairman of Lloyd’s, who also attended the event.

“This will, in turn, help to create a more vibrant insurance market and increase the level of protection across the Indian economy,” Nelson added.

MS Amlin is the first Lloyd’s insurer to join the reinsurance branch. Additional Lloyd’s insurers are expected to join in time.

“We have a long-standing relationship with the Indian insurance market, having played a lead role in providing reinsurance to local cedents for many years,” said Hugo Bashall, CEO of MS Amlin India, who added that the company aims to make “a positive contribution to the development of reinsurance onshore….”

“The growth of India’s insurance market has not kept pace with the country’s rapid economic development, leaving many sections of the economy vulnerable in the face of significant natural catastrophe exposures,” Lloyd’s said in a statement.

“The introduction of foreign reinsurers will help to close this underinsurance gap and develop India as a center for insurance, reinsurance and associated services,” it went on to say.

Source: Lloyd’s

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