The vision of the joint venture is to become the #1 life insurance company for rural and semi-urban India, while also serving urban customers through leadership in protection solutions.
Mumbai: Passenger and Commercial Vehicle manufacturer Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd (M&M) has entered into an agreement with Canada’s Manulife to form a 50:50 life insurance joint venture. This would be the 27th life insurance company in India. The total capital commitment for the venture is Rs 7,200 crore (US$800 million)-- Rs 3,600 crore from each partner over 10 years. Both partners plan to invest Rs 1,250 crore each (US$140 million) over the first five years.
The venture will build on their existing collaboration in asset management launched in 2020. According to M&M group CEO and managing director Anish Shah, the partnership fits into the group’s plan to build a broad-based financial services portfolio. He said the Mahindra brand’s distribution strength in smaller towns, combined with Manulife’s global expertise in underwriting and reinsurance, will help create a technology-led, customer-centric insurer.
The partnership seeks to build a number one life insurance company for rural and semi-urban India, and in serving urban customers through leadership in protection solutions
Phil Witherington, President and CEO of Manulife, called the agreement “an important milestone” in the company’s Asia growth strategy. “This will strengthen our diverse portfolio and position us for tremendous growth in a mega economy of the future. We have a trusted partner in Mahindra, with whom we already have a successful asset management collaboration, and we see tremendous opportunity to build on our efforts by combining their deep distribution network with our insurance expertise,” he said.
The proposed insurer will be a public limited company.
