India News

India’s Basic Realities May Confound New Finance Minister’s Reform Agenda

The return of a pro-market reformer to India’s finance ministry has cheered investors and contributed to a market rally, but Palaniappan Chidambaram will need both political deftness and some luck to tackle the problems dragging the economy down. Faced with …

India Power Failure Hits Millions; Among World’s ‘Worst Blackouts’

Hundreds of millions of people across India were left without power on Tuesday in one of the world’s worst blackouts, trapping miners, stranding train travelers and plunging hospitals into darkness when grids collapsed for the second time in two days. …

AIR Unveils Cyclone Model for India

Boston-based catastrophe risk modeling firm AIR Worldwide announced that it has released a cyclone model for India. “The new peer-reviewed model, which was developed out of AIR’s Hyderabad office, captures the effects of wind and precipitation-induced flooding on insured properties …

Liberty Mutual’s Indian Joint Venture Receives Insurance License

Liberty Mutual Insurance Group announced that Liberty Videocon General Insurance Company Ltd, a joint venture between Liberty Mutual Insurance Group and Videocon Industries Ltd., has received the necessary license from India’s insurance regulatory authority to commence its operations. The operation …

U.S. Exempts India, Other Countries, Not China, from Iran Sanctions

The United States extended exemptions from its tough, new sanctions on Iran’s oil trade to seven more economies on Monday, leaving China the last remaining major importer exposed to possible penalties at the end of the month. In the latest …

Willis Re Appoints Angelini-Hurll as Regional Director of APMETA Team

Willis Re, the reinsurance arm of Willis Group Holdings, announced the appointment of Kieran Angelini-Hurll as Regional Director of its Indian Sub-Continent, Middle East, North Africa and Turkey operations, a newly created post within the group. He will be based …

Shipping Exec: India’s State Insurers to Provide $50 Million Cover for Iran Oil Buy

Indian state-run insurers have agreed to give limited cover to local ships for carrying Iranian oil, helping the energy-hungry country import reduced volumes from sanctions-hit Tehran from July, a Shipping Corp of India director said on Tuesday. “We have in …

S&P Lowers India’s Rating Outlook to Negative; Investment Rating in Peril

Standard & Poor’s cut India’s credit rating outlook on Wednesday to negative from stable, reflecting the toll that hefty fiscal and current account deficits and political paralysis are exacting on Asia’s third-largest economy. The negative outlook jeopardizes India’s long-term rating …

U.S. Exempts 11 Countries from Iran Oil Sanctions; China, India Exposed

The United States exempted Japan and 10 EU nations from financial sanctions because they have significantly cut purchases of Iranian oil, but left Iran’s top customers China and India exposed to the possibility of such steps. The decision means banks …

Debt Ridden India Makes More Claims on Its Insurance Giant

An Indian government company with more than a quarter of a billion customers has once again dug into its pockets to prop up its financially-strapped owner. Policyholders in the Life Insurance Corporation of India, a behemoth that’s little known outside …