India’s sovereign bond yields are likely to head sideways in coming months before starting to spike higher toward year-end, according to a 25-year bond-market veteran. Signs of quicker inflation and concern the Reserve Bank of India will pull back on policy support should eventually put yields on a rising path, said Radhavi Deshpande, chief investment officer at Kotak Mahindra Life Insurance Co. in Mumbai. Consumer prices will start to rise as the virus wave subsides, and that will also convince policy makers to ease back on stimulus, she said. “We expect the benchmark 10-year yield to head toward 6.50% as inflation worries and policy normalization concerns begin to resurface along with reducing support from the RBI as we approach the year end,” she said in an interview. Yields may stretch toward the high, last seen in April 2020, by March, she added.
Kotak Mahindra Group announces new chiefs for insurance business
April 30, 2021
Kotak Mahindra Group on Friday announced two key appointments for their insurance businesses.
Mahesh Balasubramanian will be the Managing Director of Kotak Mahindra Life Insurance and Suresh Agarwal will be the Managing Director and CEO of Kotak General Insurance. These appointments will be effective May 1, 2021.
“These moves come as G Murlidhar completes a 10-year term as the Managing Director of Kotak Life and superannuates on Friday (April 30, 2021),” Kotak Mahindra Group said in a statement.
Balasubramanian is the MD and CEO of Kotak GI, and has been heading the company since 2014 while Agarwal led Kotak Life’s distribution network and has played a vital role in establishing a vast pan-India network for the company.
Long-term investor life insurers raised stakes in 8 stocks by up to 14% in Q4
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Insurers are considered long-term investors in the market, as they have a longer mandate to invest policyholders’ money.
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Five of the eight stocks managed to beat the flat returns on Sensex on a year-to-date basis.
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NEW DELHI: Insurance companies lapped up shares of at least eight BSE500 companies during the January-March quarter and increased holdings by between 200 basis points and as high as 14 per cent. Five of the eight stocks managed to beat the flat returns on Sensex on a year-to-date basis.
G Murlidhar, Managing Director and CEO, Kotak Mahindra Life Insurance×
Optimistic about the prospects of the life insurance industry,
G Murlidhar, Managing Director and
CEO, Kotak Mahindra Life Insurance says expectations of improved economic growth, more awareness about insurance and digitisation will give a boost to demand.
In an interview with
BusinessLine, he also expressed hope that the impact of the second wave of the Covid-19 will be limited as insurers have learnt to work through the pandemic. Edited Excerpts:
How do you expect the company to do this year?
How the company will do depends on the economy and the industry. My view is that India still remains largely under insured and under penetrated market. A lot of opportunity exists.