KATHMANDU: Two days before the application deadline, 7 companies have applied for the operation of micro insurance companies. As the regulatory body Insurance Board of Nepal has called for applications for the distribution of only 7 micro insurance licenses, one each in all provinces, the same number of applications has been seen as an interest.
The committee called for licenses for micro insurance companies on August 10. A deadline of 35 days has been given for the application.
According to the board, there are 3 life and 4 non-life micro insurances among the applications. According to which, on the life insurance side, there are Swadeshi Lagu Jeevan Bima, Janaki Jeevan Bima Company and Garden Micro Life Insurance, while on the non-life side, there are Karnali Micro Insurance, Neo Light Micro (General) Insurance Company, Nepal Micro Insurance and Everest Micro Insurance.
Similarly, contrary to the objective of increasing the quality by reducing the number of companies, the insurance committee has started distributing new licenses in all seven provinces. On the one hand, ‘business’ is not reaching the 41 operating insurance companies, and on the other hand, the insurance committee has not been able to effectively regulate and supervise those companies.
In such a situation, the insurance committee has called for a license to establish micro insurance companies in all seven provinces.
Last March, the insurance committee gave instructions to increase the paid-up capital of the companies. According to the instructions, within a year, life insurance companies have to maintain a paid-up capital of at least 5 billion and non-life insurance companies at least 2.5 billion rupees. Currently, there are 41 companies in operation including 20 non-life, 19 life and 2 reinsurance companies.