NEW YORK LIFE HIGHLIGHTS POTENTIAL OF INDIAN MARKET

US-based New York Life International believes that India now offers the single largest insurance market, because of its growing middle class and increasingly favourable regulatory environment, according to its chief executive for South East Asia Dennis Pedini. New York Life has already entered the Indian market through its 1999 partnership with Max India to form Max New York Life Insurance Co, a diversified company with interests in the healthcare and telecommunications sectors. The US firm has a 26% stake in the venture, which is the maximum holding foreign insurers are permitted in Indian companies under local law, and has recently opened its sixth office in the country in Chennai. Mr Pedini said that New York Life International had a presence in nine Asian countries, including China, Taiwan, the Philippines and South Korea, and planned to enter Vietnam shortly. It has increased its paid-up capital in Max New York Life to Rp2bn to support its long-term investment in India.