INFRA BOOST IRDA tweaks norms for market investments

New Delhi: Insurance Regulatory Development Authority (IRDA) on Thursday tweaked norms for insurance companies to invest their funds in different market instruments like government securities and corporate debt to channelise longterm savings into infrastructure sector. 

    Life insurance companies can now be invested in central government securities which should not be less than 25% of the total corpus, IRDA said in a notification. 
    However, the total investment in central government securities, state government securities and other approved securities cannot be less than 50% taken together. 
    At the same time, it has allowed life insurers to invest in housing and infrastructure bonds, with ratings of not less than AA by credit rating agencies. 
    The total investment in the category will not be less than 15%. 
    On pension funds, the guidelines said money generated from them will be invested in the government bonds, up to 40% of the fund value, while not more than 60% would be invested in other approved instruments. 
    As for investments in ULIP funds, the guidelines said that at least 30% of the fund value would be invested in government securities and 5% can be invested in housing and infrastructure bonds. 
    The remaining can be invested in the other approved investment categories. AGENCIES